an introvert after God's own heart

deep into the silence i go,to quiet my mind, and ease my soul.

Crystal Phillips on writing, from her memoir, The Me I Knew I Could Be.

Today’s sunset over Namaka, Nadi

A vintage-inspired digital collage I put together on Canva Cold, hushed, sits the misty, pale shoreline a beach in the dead of winter,left,bereftto windand sky.The waves soak into sandlike prayer,crash against the rockslike fragmentsof frozen memory.

I don’t know why this never occurred to me before, but it did so today, and I made a note of it in my diary – seen here on the left. Since life is about God, is from God and is for God, why am I not address my questions and observations to Him? I found it odd that I was wrestling with all these issues, and questions, and I was writing them out in my diary, and thinking about them over and over…

It’s cold and still dark outside this quiet Sunday morning as I write. The beat of the lali signaling the dawn prayer service sounded minutes ago, but I’m not going because I’m feeling so cold and my warm bed is more inviting, my blankets more cosy than a hard, cold church pew. I’ve decided that sometimes it’s better to choose what’s best for me than to pretend. And that’s the same direction I’m…

Have you ever felt weary in spaces that always seem to demand more volume, more energy, more visibility? For many seekers, the journey toward faith can feel crowded before it even begins. We often imagine that closeness with God must look outwardly bold or emotionally loud. Yet when we look carefully through the Gospels, we find the quiet strength of Jesus sitting just beneath the movement of…

There is always a moment after the quiet. That moment when you blow out the candle, close your diary and leave your ‘quiet space’. When the retreat ends, or the morning prayer gives way to dishes in the sink and unanswered emails. You step out of stillness and return to the ordinary life carrying groceries, responsibilities, deadlines, and the weight of small daily concerns. For a long time, I…

I used to think silence was simply what remained when everything else stopped. No noise, no conversation, no movement. Just a kind of emptiness to get through. But I am beginning to see it differently. I am learning that there is an architecture of silence. Not emptiness but a place where God begins to build. Not something hollow, but something steady and sheltering. A quiet space within the…

By now, perhaps you have accepted the invitation and stepped beyond the city gates. You have begun learning the slower rhythm of quiet. There is a gentleness to your pace now. You are learning the slower rhythm of quiet without rushing, to listen without reaching for noise. But somewhere along the path, a lull settles in and your steps begin to slow. You pause, and a hush seems to settle over…

I have often felt the quiet pressure to move faster in my walk with God. To grow quickly. Pray more. Become “better” without delay. And yet, when I read the companionship between God and man in Scripture, I notice something that unsettles that urgency. Meditation Verse: And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day… Genesis 3:8a God is not rushing. He…

We live in a world that interprets “empty” as a problem to be solved. A world that rarely leaves space unfilled. An empty calendar is a sign of low productivity; something to fix. An empty room is a sign of loneliness, something we should escape. Even an empty minute is quickly filled with a bright screen, checking notifications. I’ve been noticing this in myself too. How quickly I move to…

You first need to understand two things to help understand why Jesus had to die. The weight of sin, and God’s justice. The weight of sin The Bible is deadly serious about sin. Sin is dark and heavy because it separates us from God. Sin also fractures us, our spirit, our soul, our relationship with others and with ourselves. This is what the Bible says about sin… For the wages of sin is…

At its core, Christianity is about having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Sounds simple enough, and deep and mysterious. First of all, how can we have a relationship with God at all when He is invisible, and no one has ever seen Him? How does one begin any kind of relationship with someone like that, an unseen, all-powerful God? The good news is that God has always reached out to…

Can you imagine living inside “the secret place of the Most High”? Or, to be under God’s shadow? Imagine how secure it is, and how big His shadow. This week has been a trying one for me at work, and the busy times took over much of of my days. I’ve had to work hard to keep my solitude, and my calm. Reading Psalm 91:1 again reinforced God’s promises in me. God’s promises in Psalm 91:1 is for…