Through The Eyes Of A Dog
November 14, 2013 
11 Comments
“God, make me the person my dog thinks I am.”
Church sign
Crafted By Human Hands
November 13, 2013 8 Comments
Psalm 115:1-8 The Voice
Not for us, O Eternal One; this glory is not for us—but for Your name
because of Your loyal love and truth.
Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God now?”
Our God is in heaven
doing whatever He chooses.
Those nations worship idols of silver and gold,
crafted by human hands:
They have given their gods mouths, but they cannot speak;
eyes, but they cannot see.
They have provided their idols with ears, but they cannot hear;
noses, but they cannot smell.
They have fashioned hands, but the idols cannot reach out and touch;
feet, but they cannot walk.
Their idols cannot make a sound in their finely crafted throats.
The people who make idols will become useless like them,
like all who trust in idols.
Immortal Flowers
November 13, 2013 3 Comments
Many a humble soul will be amazed to find that the seed it sowed in weakness, in the dust of daily life, has blossomed into immortal flowers under the eye of the Lord.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Weekly Photo Challenge: Habit
November 12, 2013 11 Comments
This week, show us something that’s a HABIT. It could be your daily walk to the bus stop, or your daily paper lying on the doorstep. Maybe it’s the guy behind the counter at the deli you always visit for lunch, the stuffed bunny your child must have at bedtime, or the view from your desk as you sit down to blog.
My Thoughts 💭
For this weeks challenge i wanted to share a photo of the daily fuel that keeps iChristian going (other than the obvious ‘Holy Spirit answer).
This is a Mocha fresh from our excellent little coffee maker (Dolce Gusto)! I love Mocha, Lungo intenso, Cortado & Expresso’s and hot chocolate (not all in one day! lol) 😀
More of my Weekly Photo Challenges
✞ Testimony “Annie Lobert”
November 12, 2013 10 Comments
My Thoughts 💭
After watching this amazing testimony of God’s Love & Grace i couldn’t stop thinking about the lyrics below from the powerful ‘Constance’ song.
📓 Lyrics from “Constance” by Mr. J. Medeiros
The sound of rain is her backdrop laying there
Like she’s waiting for somebody to say they care
While the tears of God fall down the window pane
She feels unholy like the Father doesn’t know her name
Marry Magdalene and the woman at the well
He knows everything that happens
And in His arms she fell
Moral Acts
November 11, 2013 10 Comments
The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements, but moral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, “I was wrong.”
Sydney J. Harris
Through The Eyes Of God
November 10, 2013 11 Comments
The army of Israel looked at Goliath through the eyes of man and said he’s too big to beat. David looked at him through the eyes of God and said he’s too big to miss.
Wally Carter
Put On Your New Self
November 10, 2013 4 Comments
Ephesians 4:17-32 The Voice
Therefore, as a witness of the Lord, I insist on this: that you no longer walk in the outsiders’ ways—with minds devoted to worthless pursuits. They are blind to true understanding. They are strangers and aliens to the kind of life God has for them because they live in ignorance and immorality and because their hearts are cold, hard stones. And now, since they’ve lost all natural feelings, they have given themselves over to sensual, greedy, and reckless living. They stop at nothing to satisfy their impure appetites.
But this is not the path of the Anointed One, which you have learned. If you have heard Jesus and have been taught by Him according to the truth that is in Him, then you know to take off your former way of life, your crumpled old self—that dark blot of a soul corrupted by deceitful desire and lust— to take a fresh breath and to let God renew your attitude and spirit. Then you are ready to put on your new self, modeled after the very likeness of God: truthful, righteous, and holy.
So put away your lies and speak the truth to one another because we are all part of one another. When you are angry, don’t let it carry you into sin.[a] Don’t let the sun set with anger in your heart or give the devil room to work. If you have been stealing, stop. Thieves must go to work like everyone else and work honestly with their hands so that they can share with anyone who has a need. Don’t let even one rotten word seep out of your mouths. Instead, offer only fresh words that build others up when they need it most. That way your good words will communicate grace to those who hear them. It’s time to stop bringing grief to God’s Holy Spirit; you have been sealed with the Spirit, marked as His own for the day of rescue. 31 Banish bitterness, rage and anger, shouting and slander, and any and all malicious thoughts—these are poison. Instead, be kind and compassionate. Graciously forgive one another just as God has forgiven you through the Anointed, our Liberating King.
If Only
November 8, 2013 0 Comments
My Thoughts 💭
I was talking to Christian brother Ben shortly before our men’s group on Wednesday about the inner peace of knowing our true identity in Christ, and how we can then apply that truth, comfort and joy into our daily lives. Then today, loving sister Shelly said it perfectly!! 🙂
Here is a poem I wrote about how different things would be if we put our trust in the Lord.
If Only
If only I trusted that I am worthy of love, I wouldn’t let people use and abuse me.
If only I trusted that I was chosen to be a child of God, I wouldn’t dwell so much on the times my earthly father disappointed me or hurt my feelings.
If only I trusted that I am God’s masterpiece, I wouldn’t believe what others have said about my appearance.
If only I trusted that I am holy and dearly loved, I wouldn’t listen to the hurtful comments people have said to me.
If only I believed I was an heir to the King of Kings, I wouldn’t spend so much time and energy trying to acquire material things.
If only I trusted that I belonged to a royal priesthood…
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Please Join Me In Prayer For Sarah
November 8, 2013 55 Comments
My Thoughts 💭
Dear readers, please could you pray for my lovely wife Sarah. We’ve just received the date for her eye surgery (Friday 15th Nov 12:00 UK time) and Sarah’s worried as this eye has lots of other complications from previous operations. So i’d like to gather as many brothers & sisters together to pray for her!
I’m posting this a week early as i thought if you only get weekly notifications then you still have time to join us in prayer! 🙂
Matthew 18:20 The Voice
For when two or three gather together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.
The Man In Black
November 7, 2013 5 Comments
My Thoughts 💭
Sarah & i have just got home from “The Johnny Cash Roadshow” at Epsom Playhouse. When they introduced Johnny Cash as a Singer, Songwriter, Christian & Sinner, i knew it was going to be good! 🙂
Description from the Epsom Playhouse
Johnny Cash Roadshow
7 November 2013
The UK’s No1 Tribute, fronted by respected singer/songwriter Clive John, re-creates with astounding accuracy and truly captures the essence of what it was like to be at a real Cash show! Also featuring Jill Schoonjans as June Carter, Amanda Stone and Sheena Beckett as the Carter Sisters all aspects of Cash’s life are covered with impeccable taste.
The show takes the audience from the 1950’s right up to 2002 and all the stops in between. All the greatest hits are included, Ring of Fire, Walk the Line as well as the Johnny and June duets Jackson and If I Were a Carpenter and so many more, all the while accompanied by an amazing video back drop with evocative images and shots from Johnny Cash’s life.
I hadn’t heard many Johnny Cash songs (even though i play a few) but i was pleasantly surprised with the strong Christian message in some of them! Now i’m totally Country’d out! I’ve added a few songs played tonight, enjoy! 🙂
10 Things the World Needs to Know About the Church
November 7, 2013 0 Comments
- You can try to squash us, but you will never succeed, because even the gates of Hell will not prevail against us.
- You can hurt us, embarrass us, and bring out the worst in us, but you can never take our lives, because they are hid with Christ in God.
- You can try to discredit us with academics or human reasoning, but we’ll believe the God who created the brain.
- You can accuse us of hypocrisy or the most grievous of sins, but you cannot shame us into hell, because we were never trusting in our own righteousness to keep us out of it.
- You can hang around us, and sing with us, be loved by us, and pray with us, but only accepting Jesus as the sacrifice for your sins and the Lord of your life, makes you one of us.
- You can despise us and reject us, but…
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The Struggle Within
November 7, 2013 6 Comments
I have more trouble with D. L. Moody than with any other man I ever met.
D. L. Moody
Daily Prompt: Google and Rescue Operation
November 6, 2013 12 Comments
✞ Music “Start Over” by Flame (feat NF)
November 6, 2013 5 Comments
“Start Over”
(feat. NF)
Everybody’s got a blank page
A story they’re writing today
A wall that they’re climbing
You can’t carry the past on their shoulders
But you can start over
Regrets, no matter what you goin’ through
Jesus, He gave it all to save you
He carried the cross on His shoulders
So you can start over
Don’t let your heart be troubled
Don’t be afraid
To the broken hearted that wished that they’d
Never been born, never been torn, never sinned, never disobeyed
I know you think there’s no hope, but that ain’t true
I know you feelin’ regret
(Like I) brought this all on myself
(Like I) messed it up big time, and this time I don’t deserve God’s help
(Thinking) how can God forgive me after knowin’ what I did (can He?)
After knowin’ that I hid from Him, and I stayed away and backslid
Jesus came for the sick (so true)
Jesus came for the weak (amen)
Jesus came to give good news and have set the captives free (amen)
Jesus came for the poor (amen)
Jesus came with the keys
Jesus came to remove the chains so the prisoners are released
Everybody’s got a blank page
A story they’re writing today
A wall that they’re climbing
You can’t carry the past on their shoulders
But you can start over
Regrets, no matter what you goin’ through
Jesus, He gave it all to save you
He carried the cross on His shoulders
So you can start over
See, His love is deeper than the ocean floor
Run to His arms like an open door
God the Father sent the Son
So men can come and be free and ain’t gotta run no more
Come to me, all who are weary; with heavy burdens, I’ll give you rest
Separated you from the sin, as far as the east is from the west
Thrown in the sea of forgetfulness
What sin? What offense?
And when them waves come crashing in, I’ll calm the winds in your defense
So, whatever it is that you’ve done
He put that punishment on His Son
You’ll never come under His condemnation… Satan and his accusations
So, dry your eyes, lift up your head
Hallelujah! God is not dead!
Plus He gave us His peace, and He took our guilt on the cross instead
Took our place and now we embrace
A clean slate with the eyes of faith
We know unfailing love, unfailing love, it’s not too late, start over
Everybody’s got a blank page
A story they’re writing today
A wall that they’re climbing
You can’t carry the past on their shoulders
But you can start over
Regrets, no matter what you goin’ through
Jesus, He gave it all to save you
He carried the cross on His shoulders
So you can start over
Wounds Of The Spirit
November 6, 2013 9 Comments
There are wounds of the spirit which never close and are intended in God’s mercy to bring us nearer to Him, and to prevent us leaving Him by their very perpetuity. Such wounds then may almost be taken as a pledge, or at least as a ground for a humble trust, that God will give us the great gift of perseverance to the end. This is how I comfort myself in my own great bereavements.
John Henry Newman
Fireworks!!
November 5, 2013 12 Comments
My Thoughts 💭
Not going to a firework display this year, so here are some photos from last year. Hope you enjoy!! 😀
Called To Become
November 5, 2013 5 Comments
Called to become
You are called to become a perfect creation.
No-one is called to become who you are called to be.
It does not matter how short or tall or thick set or slow you may be.
It does not matter whether you sparkle with life or are silent as a still pool,
Whether you sing your song aloud or weep alone in the darkness.
It does not matter whether you feel loved and admired or unloved and alone.
For you are called to become a perfect creation.
This becoming may be gentle or harsh, subtle or violent.
But it never ceases, never pauses or hesitates, only is –
Creative force – calling you.
Calling you to become a perfect creation
Edwina Gateley
Psalms of a Laywoman.
My Thoughts 💭
One of our ministers (Nik) just emailed me this amazing poem which was read out whilst on her retreat. Thought it would speak to some of you too! 🙂
Nothing Transcends The Power Of God
November 5, 2013 1 Comment
Nothing transcends the power of God. Whether our difficulty is from Satan, others, self-inflicted, or experienced in the process of our obedience, it is God’s prerogative to rearrange, reconstruct, reinterpret, and realign the situation to bring glory and praise to His name.
Joseph Stowell
Let Us Pray
November 3, 2013 2 Comments
Let us pray for the Church and for the world, and let us thank God for his goodness:
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, you promised through your Son Jesus Christ to hear us when we pray with faith.
We pray for your Church today, gathering all around the world in tiny churches and great cathedrals, to praise you, to hear your holy word, and to meet with you in bread and wine. Give us a sense of expectation as we come and inspiration as we go. Help us to put our differences behind us and to behind the great commission of Jesus to make disciples of all nations.
We pray for a world which struggles to live justly and in peace. We pray for those who have to search for daily food or walk long distances for clean water. We remember with sadness those whose live are cut short by preventable diseases and malnutrition, and those who have fled their homes for fear of violence. May Your kingdom come and Your will be done as it is in the heavenly places.
We thank you God for your forgiveness and for revealing that you are Love. Thank you for those people who sustain us by sharing this love to us. Thank you for the network of people with whom our lives are inextricably linked and who make up the fabric of our family and community life. Make us alert to each other’s needs and quick to serve and encourage one another. May our gentleness with each other reflect your gentleness with us.
We pray for those who are laid low by suffering and those who are experiencing the outrageous assault of pain. We trust your love for us and for all people, and your deep desire for our well-being. As we name in our hearts those who are in the grip of suffering, help us so to pray and to act that they may know your comfort and healing, both now and in the coming days.
We thank you for those people who have tonight given us examples and models by which we try to live. We thank you for those who have lived and died in quiet holiness and whose prayers have helped to sustain the world. Help us to live in the light be which they lived, and to worship the source of that light, Jesus Christ our risen Lord.
Rejoicing in the fellowship of all people, we commend ourselves to your unfailing love. Merciful Father, accept these prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
My Thoughts 💭
Tonight at our café style evening service we were lead through this lovely prayer above. Thought you might want to join in with us. 🙂
Weekly Photo Challenge: Eerie
November 2, 2013 18 Comments
Let’s go out and capture black and white images that are EERIE.
⇧ “The Retreat” Log cabin looking EERIE in Acle, Norfolk ⇧
⇧ There was a definite EERIE feel around Castle Rising Castle ⇧
Spiritual Family
November 1, 2013 15 Comments
1 John 5:1-6 The Voice
It’s easy to say “I love God,” but genuine love reflects God’s love. If we belong to God, then we will love each other regardless of how hard love is.
Everyone who trusts Jesus as the long-awaited Anointed One is a child of God, and everyone who loves the Father cannot help but love the child fathered by Him. Then how do we know if we truly love God’s children? We love them if we love God and keep His commands. You see, to love God means that we keep His commands, and His commands don’t weigh us down. Everything that has been fathered by God overcomes the corrupt world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.
Who is the person conquering the world? It is the one who truly trusts that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus the Anointed is the One who came by water and blood—not by the water only, but by the water and the blood.
Just as we do not get to choose our biological brothers and sisters, we do not get to choose our spiritual brothers and sisters either. But what comes along with loving the Father is loving all His other children—even the really annoying ones! While it might seem to be easier to go off and live in isolation rather than put up with those we are not naturally attracted to, there are responsibilities that come with living in a spiritual family. We reflect our worship of God by living in respect with our Christian brothers and sisters. How we treat the people around us on a daily basis is the real test of our love for God.
Daily Prompt: Eat, Drink, and Be Merry…
November 1, 2013 14 Comments
Photographers, artists, poets: show us DINNER!
…for tomorrow we die. The world is ending tomorrow! Tell us about your last dinner!
⇧ Fillet Steaks ⇧
⇧ Love heart potatoes ⇧
⇧ Doughnuts ⇧
⇧ Elephant’s Foot ⇧
⇧ Hot Chocolate ⇧
My Thoughts 💭
Lucky i’d be dead tomorrow, as i think i’d die anyway after eating all of this! 😀
✞ Music “Always Been About You” by Fellowship Creative
November 1, 2013 2 Comments
It’s just gone 2am here in the UK and i’ve just saved Sarah from another nasty hypo (yay, i didn’t need to call the ambulance out!). This song was playing on the radio and helping me stay awake. I’ve never heard this song before so i thought i would share it with you now all is well! 🙂
Grass & Flowers
October 31, 2013 0 Comments
The Lord’s goodness surrounds us at every moment. I walk through it almost with difficulty, as through thick grass and flowers.
R. W. Barbour
✞ Music “Not For A Moment” by Meredith Andrews
October 31, 2013 7 Comments
Thanks to Spannerr for recommending this song to me!
Stop Playing Favourites
October 31, 2013 9 Comments
James 2:1-7 The Voice
My brothers and sisters, I know you’ve heard this before, but stop playing favourites! Do not try to blend the genuine faith of our glorious Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, with your silly pretentiousness. If an affluent gentleman enters your gathering wearing the finest clothes and priceless jewelry, don’t trip over each other trying to welcome him. And if a penniless bum crawls in with his shabby clothes and a stench fills the room, don’t look away or pretend you didn’t notice—offer him a seat up front, next to you. If you tell the wealthy man, “Come sit by me; there’s plenty of room,” but tell the vagrant, “Oh, these seats are saved. Go over there,” then you’ll be judging God’s children out of evil motives.
My dear brothers and sisters, listen: God has picked the poor of this world to become unfathomably rich in faith and ultimately to inherit the Kingdom, which He has pledged to those who love Him. By favoring the rich, you have mocked the poor. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it the rich who step on you while climbing the ladder of success? And isn’t it the rich who take advantage of you and drag you into court? Aren’t they the ones mocking the noble name of our God, the One calling us?
We are often mesmerized by the rich, powerful, and beautiful people of the world. We dream of associating with them; but when we focus our attention on the fashionable people of this world, it is often at the expense of those who need it the most.
Ignoring the needy and favouring the wealthy is completely contrary to the example Jesus modeled for us while walking on earth. God often chooses those who are the poorest materially to be the richest spiritually. We should welcome everyone equally into God’s kingdom, even if it means upsetting boundaries like class and race. The rule is simple: we should treat others in the same way we want to be treated. God does not play favorites, and neither should we.
Habits Of The Soul
October 31, 2013 3 Comments
Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. For however important chastity (or courage, or truthfulness, or any other virtue) may be, this process trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still.
C. S. Lewis
Yay, I’m Now Connected!
October 30, 2013 11 Comments
I’ve spent most of this week changing my email subscription status on the many blogs i follow. I didn’t know that after all this time, i wasn’t getting any posts through!! I thought that you didn’t post much. lol.
As i don’t use the ‘Reader’ to follow blogs (its just too clunky with how i use zoom and speech on my mac, so i read your post via Email) i wasn’t keeping up with you guys at all! So sorry if you thought i was being ignorant, but as from this week, I’m back and you should see me around your blog soon! 🙂
The World’s Censure
October 30, 2013 7 Comments
Never be afraid of the world’s censure; it’s praise is much more to be dreaded.
C. H. Spurgeon
Dig Deeply
October 29, 2013 1 Comment
Psalm 139:23-24 The Voice
Explore me, O God, and know the real me. Dig deeply and discover who I am. Put me to the test and watch how I handle the strain. Examine me to see if there is an evil bone in me, and guide me down Your path forever.
Seek For No Other Footsteps
October 29, 2013 2 Comments
Be guided, only by the healer of the sick, the raiser of the dead, the friend of all who were afflicted and forlorn, the patient Master who shed tears of compassion for our infirmities. We cannot but be right when we put all the rest away, and do everything in remembrance of Him…There can be no confusion in following Him, and seeking for no other footsteps, I am certain!
Charles Dickens
The Means To New Life For Others
October 27, 2013 10 Comments
2 Corinthians 4:1-12 The Voice
Drawing from Exodus 32–34, Paul uses Moses as a model of one who has been transformed by God’s glory, but in a limited way. Moses encountered God (the Lord) through the Spirit on that mountain, but the Spirit now—as a fulfillment of the new covenant—dwells in the hearts of believers and continually transforms them. This transformation is based on a new way of understanding God’s revelation: Jesus Himself, the One who reveals God’s glory, is the very image of God. Through this Spirit-enabled encounter, believers experience a new way of living and therefore come to resemble the Anointed One as they reflect His glory.
Since we are joined together in this ministry as a result of the mercy shown to all of us by God, we do not become discouraged. Instead, we have renounced all the things that hide in shame; we refuse to live deceptively or use trickery; we do not pollute God’s Word with any other agenda. Instead, we aim to tell the truth plainly, appealing to the conscience of every person under God’s watchful eye. Now if our gospel remains veiled, it is only veiled from those who are lost and dying, because the evil god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers. As a result the light of the good news, the radiant glory of the Anointed—who is the very image of God—cannot shine down on them. We do not preach about ourselves. The subject of all our sermons is Jesus, the Anointed One. He is Lord and Master of all. For Jesus’ sake we are here to serve you. The God who spoke light into existence, saying, “Let light shine from the darkness,”[a] is the very One who sets our hearts ablaze to shed light on the knowledge of God’s glory revealed in the face of Jesus, the Anointed One.
But this beautiful treasure is contained in us—cracked pots made of earth and clay—so that the transcendent character of this power will be clearly seen as coming from God and not from us. We are cracked and chipped from our afflictions on all sides, but we are not crushed by them. We are bewildered at times, but we do not give in to despair. We are persecuted, but we have not been abandoned. We have been knocked down, but we are not destroyed. We always carry around in our bodies the reality of the brutal death and suffering of Jesus. As a result, His resurrection life rises and reveals its wondrous power in our bodies as well. For while we live, we are constantly handed over to death on account of Jesus so that His life may be revealed even in our mortal bodies of flesh. So death is constantly at work in us, but life is working in you.
Jesus’ death is the means to new life for others. Similarly when believers suffer for others as Jesus did, their suffering is an avenue for God’s life to transform situations.
A Tragic Mess
October 26, 2013 15 Comments
Benjamin West tells how he actually became a successful and important painter. When he was young, his mother went out and left him in charge of his sister Sally. In the meantime, little Benjamin discovered bottles of colored ink and began to do Sally’s portrait. What a mess soon developed. Finally, when Ben’s mother came home and saw the tragic mess, she said nothing. She merely picked up the paper with the portrait and said, “Why it’s Sally!” and she kissed Ben. Ever since that day, West has said, “My mother’s kiss made me a painter.”
Raymond T. Moreland
Weekly Photo Challenge: Horizon
October 25, 2013 19 Comments
In a new post specifically for this challenge, share a photo which means HORIZON to you!
Lord Of Our Time
October 25, 2013 4 Comments
When we understand that He is Lord of our time, we realize that interruptions are of His planning. They become opportunities to serve rather than plagues to keep us from functioning.
Karen Mains
Of Sheep and Shepherds
October 25, 2013 0 Comments
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away–and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. (John 10:11-14 NRSV)
“I am the good shepherd.”
It’s an interesting concept and one which is ripe for misunderstanding when viewed through modern Western eyes.
In many places today sheep are herded by being driven from behind, often with the help of sheep dogs and farm vehicles. It’s a benign practice but it conjures up completely the wrong image of Jesus as the good shepherd.
Instead, picture the shepherd as the one who spends…
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Elephant’s Feet
October 25, 2013 8 Comments
My Thoughts 💭
After being back in my home town of Derby this weekend, i didn’t want to leave without having an ‘Elephants Foot’ from Birds. Other bakers around the country do similar styles of cakes, but never taste anything like one of these beauty’s, they simply can’t be beaten! My sister got me a box of 4 to take back home and Sarah & i can’t thank her enough! 😀
If you visit Derby or Derbyshire then i recommend that you try one! Please let me know what you think! 🙂
Find Rest For Your Soul
October 25, 2013 3 Comments
Matthew 11:28-29 ~ The Voice
Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Put My yoke upon your shoulders—it might appear heavy at first, but it is perfectly fitted to your curves. Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. When you are yoked to Me, your weary souls will find rest.
Love Letters
October 25, 2013 10 Comments
We are all pencils in the hand of a writing God, who is sending love letters to the world.
Mother Teresa
iChristian 
Thinking Of You Mum
My Thoughts 💭
Today would’ve been my Mums 64th birthday. Some of you who have read My Testimony or my About page may remember that she died in the same month i was registered blind 13 years ago. My family & i miss her lots, so i’ve added some of their facebook comments below,