Author: Vanessa Taylor

“If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” (Romans 12:18 ESV) Read full chapter REFLECTION  I have some students who require costly care and a lot of patience. I usually recognise that the students who call out long-suffering love in me are expensive gifts from God, but this morning —… Continue reading Failing Forward

“I do admit this to you, that I am a follower of the Way, which they call a faction. Accordingly, I worship the God of our ancestors and believe everything set out in the Law and written in the Prophets.” (Acts 24:14 CEB) Read full chapter REFLECTION  What does it mean to be a follower of… Continue reading A Follower of the Way

“God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:25NLT) Read full chapter REFLECTION  Our caring Creator clearly delights in creative design. Just look at the divine designs displayed in nature! It seems clear that He… Continue reading Form & Function

“If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up.Love cares more for others than for… Continue reading Creative Love

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9 AMP) Read full chapter REFLECTION  Yesterday I was offered a wonderful, yet rather terrifying, opportunity — that I believe is from God — and with it… Continue reading Be Strong & Courageous

“Always be ready! You don’t know when the Son of Man will come.”(Matthew 24:44 CEV) Read full chapter REFLECTION  I was once moved to share the gospel with a colleague, and I recall her saying that maybe one day, when she’s older, she’ll get involved in a church — like it’s some kind of extracurricular… Continue reading Ever-ready

Focused on the Goal “I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this,… Continue reading Prayerfully Press On

“Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;    you formed me in my mother’s womb.I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!    I worship in adoration—what a creation!You know me inside and out,    you know every bone in my body;You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,    how I was sculpted from… Continue reading Marvelously Made

“Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.]” (John 14:27 AMP)… Continue reading Perfect Peace

“It is plain to anyone with eyes to see that at the present time all created life groans in a sort of universal travail. And it is plain, too, that we who have a foretaste of the Spirit are in a state of painful tension, while we wait for that redemption of our bodies which… Continue reading Wait Well