Blogs - The Quiet Well

Covered, Held, and Loved: Even When We Run

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 17:29:25 GMT

Covered, Held, and Loved - Even When We Run

There have been several moments in the last year when I have been brought

to my knees, where I have questioned my stability, my decisions and at

times, my sanity.

These moments, fear seem to rise much faster than faith in Jesus, plan A

turns into endless ruminations, everywhere I turn, most friends I speak to,

something truly painful, sad or undeserved is all I see and hear. I want to

believe this experience is not unique to me. We all have our moment when

life shows us a different side.

The Bible does not pretend that life is not filled with these challenging

seasons, rather, scripture names them honestly, calls them out factually and

offers us acceptance, grace and guidance.

This devotional is for when we feel the urge to quietly retreat in shame, to

take steps back in conflict, to isolate in confusion, or to run away in fear -

anything to preserve ourselves when it just feels too much to bear.

Buried deep in the gospel of Mark, where Jesus was being arrested, it

mentions an unnamed man who as well as others deserted Jesus.

For some reason, his clothing or lack thereof was mentioned in this passage and I find

that this is yet another evidence of the kindness of God to include this for us

in scripture.

I pray that as you go on this 5-day devotional journey, you will come to know

that you are covered, held and loved no matter where you are.

I pray that you will realise that Jesus goes ahead even when you turn back

or run away.

He takes your shame, addresses your fears, does not accuse you and wants

to draw you closer to a place of peace, security and truth in him.

I pray that you see what you are meant to see in Jesus’ name.

Mark 14: 51-52

A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.

Day 1 - When Following Feels Hard

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 17:29:19 GMT

Day 1 - When Following Feels Hard

” Then everyone deserted him and fled”. Mark 14:50

The reality that you may have walked with the Lord intimately does not

always mean that you don’t run when life becomes difficult; in the face of

disappointment, relationship breakdown, loss of a loved one... the list goes

on. You may have had remarkable encounters with the Lord, yet you find

yourself at times struggling to cope. I want to encourage you, you are not

alone, you are certainly not condemned.

The disciples had spent years with Jesus, seen his miracles and heard his

teachings, eaten with him, prayed with him, tried to wait and watch with him

at Gethsemane while he prayed... yet they all deserted him and fled.

Sometimes, it is just hard – simple as that. Jesus proceeded with his mission

to die a painful death; hard as it must have been for him, given that he had

just prayed to the father to ‘take this cup from me...’ Mark 14:36.

Human instinct would propose that he should have legged it along with

everyone else, but he did not. He goes ahead for you in spite of, because of,

no matter your running state.

You are covered. He takes your place today like he did then, no matter where

you are. You are accounted for through Jesus, you are covered.

Prayer

Father Lord, I bring you the moments when following you feels hard and

heavy, take away condemnation, meet me with your patience, let me catch

your loving gaze, teach me to be honest with myself, and then with you.

Surround me with your warmth and cover me with your grace in Jesus’

name. Amen.

DAY 2 – The Instinct To Run

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 17:29:14 GMT

Day 2 - The Instinct To Run

“Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day...” Amos 2:16

Running is much more about survival than it is about rebellion. The need for

fight or flight is as instinctive as breathing. The pressures that can make you

feel like you cannot go on, it is all too much, which slowly turns into things

like ‘I’m not good enough’, I’m not smart enough’, ‘I’m not strong

enough’...these lies often fill our heads especially when we are faced with

situations that make us think there is no way out, we either run or hide.

There are several examples where scripture recognises these instincts

without condemnation, rather with recognition, support and help.

Elijah wanted to die - 1 Kings 19:4; God gives him rest, feeds him, then gently

speaks to him in a whisper.

Hagar runs away into the wilderness with her little son – Gen 16:13; God

acknowledges her, quenches her thirst, then gives her a lasting promise.

Peter said affirmatively that he never knew Jesus – Mark 14:71; Jesus

reconciled their relationship, dines with him and then sends him into

leadership.

That same God is your God. He understands the instinct for even the brave,

strong warrior to see opposition and run with complete abandon. He

continues to respond the same way to you today, no matter how ‘strong’,

‘smart’, ‘good’ you may feel, your father in heaven wants you to be assured

that He sees you, He wants make provision for your exact needs, He wants

to engage in conversation with you, you already know that He covers you

and mostly, He wants to give you His peace.

Prayer

God of compassion, you know my limits much more than I do. Help me

bring my fears into your light, help me bring my dilemmas into your truth,

help me not to hide or run away from you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

DAY 3 – Stripped But Seen

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 17:29:09 GMT

Day 3 - Stripped But Seen

“I was afraid because I was naked; so, I hid.” Genesis 3:10

Some of the things I’d been most ashamed of, were not things I did, but rater

things that were done to me. If like me you recoil, literally wanting to roll into

a shell like a snail when the memory flashes through your mind, then you are

in good company. I’d stay up at night recounting all the conversations I’d

had in the day and wondering why I said that or didn’t say that – basically

worrying, sometimes, rather ashamed of myself for this or that.

When you feel exposed, or feel like you have been caught out not doing your

best, or being your best, the enemy uses these moments to make us feel

stripped; stripped of confidence, stripped of dignity, stripped of our

grounding, tripped of our identity or anchoring in Christ.

When we become vulnerable, and the natural response is to retreat – who

wants to be caught out – No one! Adam and Eve certainly did not. They

heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden of Eden and they hid

– they hid. Gen 3:8-9.

They had noticed their nakedness, their exposure, their vulnerability. Feeling

stripped of their confidence in the God who made them ruler of His precious

garden, a God who spends the cool of the day with them...they felt stripped

of their identity in this God. Can you identify with Adam and Eve?

God proceeded to clothe them, to restore their dignity and make a new

covenant. He continues to restore your identity and anchoring by sending

His only son; Jesus Christ to cover us, take our place, intercede for us and

give us His peace.

Prayer

My saviour, you see me fully, as I truly am. Teach me to come out of hiding,

even in my vulnerable state. Helping me to know you intimately and

continue to do your restorative work in my heart and mind that I can be

more and more like Christ in Jesus’ name. Amen.

DAY 4 – Everyone Runs, Jesus Stays

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 17:29:01 GMT

Day 4 - Everyone Runs, Jesus Stays

“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” Zechariah 13:7;

Mark 14:27

Jesus is the one who already knows that we would run, hide, deny him,

blaspheme, place other gods before him, not love our neighbours as we

ought and so on... Yet He stays. He stayed to be beaten in our stead, He

stayed to be crucified for sins He did not commit, He stays sat at the right

hand of the father interceding for us, He stays.

Jesus stays.

He stays with you in your illness, He stays in your lack, He stays in your loss,

He stays in your doubt, He stays in your pain, He stays in your heartbreak,

He stays in your conflict, He stays in your quiet seasons, He stays with you

in the valley, He stays in the hospital, He stays by your bedside when you

don’t feel like getting up, He stays at when it feels like you have no

allegiance. He still stays.

He said to His disciples “You will fall away..., I will go ahead of you...” Mark

14:27-28.

Jesus also stays in your joy, He stays in the divine encounters, He stays in

the celebrations, He stays in the victories, He stays in the successful

interviews, He stays in the promotions, He stays when sadness turns to joys,

He stays on the mountaintop, He stays in the singing and rejoicing,

He stays with you no matter what!

Prayer

Faithful Jesus, thank you for staying when I don’t. Thank you for being

steadfast when I cannot. Thank you for never letting me define you. I pray

that you will continue to remind me that I am anchored to your love for

eternity and I am not anchored to myself or my shortcomings. I put my

hope in you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Day 5 - From Running To Redemption

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 17:28:57 GMT

Day 5 - From Running To Redemption

“They saw a young man dressed in a white robe...” Mark 16:5

It is not always easy to imagine the end of a situation when you are in the

thick of it. It takes a lot of strength and maturity to alter our perspective

especially during difficult seasons. Yet, we know that at the end of every

winter season comes spring. We also know that at the end of spring, comes

summer. Year in, year out, these seasons change. It may be dry season to

wet season – whatever climate you are in, there are some consistent

recurrences.

Now, I hope you can be reminded particularly during hard times, that there

was a man who lost his linen cloth and ran away naked when Jesus was

being arrested to be crucified, Mark 14:51-52, this man ran in fear, he ran for

his survival, he ran in shame – leaving behind his clothing, anything to not

be caught up in Jesus’ plight.

There is also a man mentioned 2 chapters later when life as they knew it was

over and a new dawn had begun. Jesus has risen. This man was present at

Jesus’ tomb dressed in white sitting on the right side, Mark 16:5.

This young man was not running, neither was he losing his clothing. There

was calm, it felt like he was anchored, assured of his place by Jesus’ tomb,

full of confidence, full of hope.

The first man was fleeing in fear, the second man sitting in confidence and

hope – Like changing seasons, this is how what Jesus did show up for us –

we are flailing and panicking, He comes, covers, holds, loves us and we can

show up clothed in clean white, restored, anchored, confident, hopeful by

the grace and mercy of God. Remember this is your inheritance too.

Prayer

God of new beginnings, hold my unfinished story with your strong, caring

hands. Lead me away from fear and towards hope and confidence in you

one day at a time in Jesus’ name. Amen

Living Steady In The Paradox

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 17:18:37 GMT

Living Steady In The Paradox

Living Steady in the Paradox

The longer I live, the more I notice that life is rarely clean or singular.

There is almost never an up without a down.

Rarely joy without some trace of grief.

Rarely gratitude without longing close behind it.

Much of life, I’m learning, is not about resolving these tensions but learning how to remain steady-ish within them.

I can be deeply grateful for my family while mourning the loss of a dear friend.

Grateful for salvation while feeling miserable in my current role.

Hopeful about the future while honest about how hard the present feels.

These things do not cancel each other out. They coexist.

For a long time, I thought maturity meant choosing one emotional truth and standing firmly there — being grateful instead of sad, hopeful instead of weary. But that kind of clarity often comes at a cost: it asks us to deny parts of our lived experience.

Now I think maturity looks more like this:
telling the truth without losing hope,
and holding hope without rushing the truth.

Hope matters — not as optimism, but as orientation. Things rarely stay exactly as they are forever. Seasons shift. Circumstances move. Even we change quietly beneath the surface.

Hope keeps temporary discomfort from becoming permanent identity.

Steadiness, then, isn’t emotional balance in a neat sense. It’s knowing where to place your weight when life feels uneven. It’s anchoring yourself in what is lasting while acknowledging what is unfinished.

This kind of steadiness doesn’t shout.
It doesn’t rush.
It doesn’t demand tidy conclusions.

But it lasts.

And sometimes, that’s enough.

The Quiet Well exists for moments like this — when life is complex, unresolved, and still deeply meaningful.

Open Handed

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 21:02:59 GMT

Open Handed

I have been saying something to myself lately. And now I find myself saying it to others — more of us need to hear it, say it and internalise it.

Hold things lightly.

This is not a suggestion to hold things carelessly, or without conviction, or without a plan, passion and dedication. Holding something lightly is not the same as not caring about it. I want to be clear about that from the start. It means something more specific, and more difficult. It means staying devoted, determined, faithful yet releasing your grip on exactly how it has to happen.

I have learned this slowly, over time, mostly through the places where I held on too tightly and felt what that costs.

Someone will tell you: pick a vision, set a destination, do everything in your power to move toward it. There is nothing wrong with that in itself.

The trouble comes when the vision shifts from something you are pursuing to something you are controlling.

When the grip tightens until you are convinced it is entirely in your doing, your timing, your method, your sequence of decisions, and if you sleep too long you might miss it, if you move too slowly it might pass, if you do not do that exact thing in that precise moment, everything falls apart.

I have been there. Wound up, anxious, circling because it was not working in the timing I had wanted, in the way I had decided it must.

Psalm 37 verse 5 stopped me. The Message translation goes:

"Open up before God, keep nothing back;

he'll do whatever needs to be done."

Not direct it. Not manage it carefully from a distance. Open up. Keep nothing back. Give it and leave it.

When I look back across twenty years, I can no longer recognise the destination I thought I was moving toward. I am nowhere near where I thought I would be. And I mean that as one of the most honest gifts I have ever been given because if I had remained tightfisted about the path, about the outcome, about the precise shape my life needed to take, I would not be here. And I do not know what I would have lost in the holding.

Not to abandon the vision. Not to stop showing up faithfully. But to release the how. To trust the path more than the plan. To lean into God's leading rather than our own engineering of the outcome.

And when I think about everything the hand has already been through, held when it was reaching, steadied when it was falling, strengthened and sent out to do faithful work in rooms that did not always make space for it, I realise something.

A hand that has been through all of that does not need to grip so tightly anymore. It has already learned the most important thing. It is not alone. It has never been alone.

It has enough. It is enough. It can open.

And the work those open hands carry, quietly and faithfully, shall be rewarded.

In prayer recently, I find that I open my hands, literally, physically open it, and let it go. Let Him have His way. Let God take control.

That is what holding lightly looks like. Not empty hands. Open ones.

Let us Pray

Father,

We come to you with open hands.

Everything we have held too tightly, every outcome we have tried to engineer, every grip we have refused to loosen — we lay it down. We place it in your hands, the hands that have held us all along.

We trust you with all our hearts. We lean not on our own understanding. In all our ways, we acknowledge you.

Whether we need to be steadied, carried, or simply held today — we trust you to give us what we need, exactly when we need it.

We ask for a conscious awareness of your presence. For peace to guard our hearts. For rest to anchor our souls. For the courage to keep our hands open.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Do Not Let Your Hands Be Weak

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 21:01:45 GMT

Do Not Let Your Hands Be Weak

I want to push back on a feeling, a perspective and sometimes, a position.

There is no intention to dismiss it. Just examine it a little more carefully than we sometimes take the time to do. It is the sense of feeling out of place.

I have experienced being and feeling out of place. Visibly, uncomfortably, undeniably out of place. I started my career as a process engineer in a male-dominated environment. Even before that, studying to be an engineer was almost entirely male. There was a 9:1 ratio in almost every aspect – students, tutors, professors. It didn't matter that it was another Tuesday, it was just another ordinary day of not fitting neatly into the room I was sitting or in some cases standing in.

And it wasn't only that I was often the only woman. I was frequently the only Black woman. That particular combination of visible difference has a weight to it that is difficult to describe to someone who has never carried it.

And yet.

In most of those rooms, while I may have looked out of place, I certainly did not feel out of place. With a quietness that surprised even me, I felt that I belonged there. That my thoughts were valid. That my perspective was being sought and was adding something real. That I had brought something to that table that the table needed. I added value.

Visually, I was out of place. But I did not feel it.

That distinction matters more than I knew how to articulate at the time. Because being out of place is simply a fact of the room: who is in it, who has always been in it, who the room was not originally designed for. But feeling out of place is something entirely different. It is an internal posture, a feeling that we choose to identify with, it is a perspective and an acceptance of a position.

And it is not always telling the truth.

The moments I have genuinely felt out of place — in corporate settings, occasionally in church — have almost never been about the room itself. They have been about whether I felt I should be there in the first place. Whether I had enough to offer. Whether I was allowed to contribute, or whether my contribution would land and be taken seriously. Confidence. Knowledge. Psychological safety. Visibility.

It is almost always an inside job.

The room rarely tells you that you don't belong. You tell yourself.

2 Chronicles 15 verse 7 is the scripture I return to in those moments.

"Be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded."

Do not let your hands be weak.

In Yoruba, there is an adage for the moment when news, information, situation is shocking, surprising and therefore becomes too much — they would say “my hand fell off” [apa mi jabo]. It is a literal translation, that makes causes this verse to speak deeply to me.

The overwhelming weight of a thing, that makes your hand give way. I know that feeling. When the room feels closed. When the work feels unseen and relentless. When the effort of continuing feels greater than the evidence that it matters.

That is when the verse finds me. Be strong . Not physically, that has never been the kind of strength this requires. Mentally. In your focus. In your grip on the bigger picture. In your knowledge of who you are.

And do not let your hand be weak.

The hand that feels like it is falling is also the hand that God holds, it is the hand He steadies, the hand that carries your work into rooms that were not built for you — that hand is not weak. It is held. And the work it carries, even when it goes unnoticed by the person directly in front of you, is not unnoticed.

Our work is unto the Lord. And He sees it all.

You are not out of place. You are exactly where you are meant to be. And your work, the work your hands are doing faithfully, sometimes quietly, in rooms that do not always know what to do with you — shall be rewarded.

Be strong.

The Hand He Already Holds

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 21:00:28 GMT

The Hand He Already Holds

I notice a lot.

I have been privileged to sit in many rooms. Rooms with CEOs of multi-million-pound companies in dialogue. Rooms with a score of young women, all of us in conversation. In each one, I have had to learn the art of reading the room — to make the sale, close the deal, get buy-in.

I see whether the key decision maker smiled agreeably, whether the girls rolled their eyes or didn't. Whether the nod came easily or had to be coaxed. Whether the room shifted when I walked in, or stayed exactly as it was. I have spent more time than I would like to admit adjusting — my words, my posture, the way I carry myself, the tone of my voice, the things I agree with and exactly when to agree or not — trying to read what the room needs from me so I can give it.

Seeking approval is often more subtle than it looks. It rarely announces itself. It just shapes you, slowly, in the direction of whoever is watching. And in most cases, it is exhausting.

Proverbs 16 verse 7 stopped me.

" When God approves of your life, even your enemies will end up shaking your hand."

I read it again. Not if. When.

When God approves. Not as a condition to be earned or a threshold to be reached. Not something to perform my way into. A fact, already settled, not earned but gifted — given on the day I accepted Jesus as my Lord and my Saviour. Which means when, for me, is today. Right now. In this moment. God approves of my life.

And because He does, even the people who would rather not align with me — will.

Not because I finally said the right thing. Not because I dressed carefully enough or agreed at the right moment. Not because I am the smartest person in the room or have all the answers. But because of whose hand I am already holding.

That thought kept unfolding quietly. If God holds my hand to steady me — if He delights in every detail of who I am — if He takes hold and says do not fear — then why would anyone not want to reach for a hand already held by God?

The approval we exhaust ourselves chasing from people — friends, colleagues, even those who would rather see us struggle — it was never the hand we needed. It was always His.

There is a stillness that comes with knowing this. Not the stillness of having everything resolved, but of no longer needing it to be. When His approval is the one I am oriented toward, the room stops being something to read and starts being something I can simply be present in.

So, I stay aligned. I keep my gaze fixed. And I watch.

Even your enemies will want to shake the hand that God holds — whether they intend to or not. The author of life, who does the impossible, has decided to favour me.

I am, therefore, favoured.

He Holds The Loop

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:58:34 GMT

He Holds The Loop

I am often the one who says the thing that people are thinking but haven't said yet.

It can be funny. It can be jarring. Either way, it tends to have an impact; maybe it’s in my intensity, my voice, my tone – or a combination. Then, I spend the rest of the night reasoning through whether it should have been in the first place, could I have said it better, differently, nicer, softer…and on and on it goes.

Almost every night. Almost every conversation. Turning it over, building a loop, wondering why I said it, and what the room thought when I did.

And then one evening I realised something quietly obvious: no one else is thinking about it nearly as much as I am. Everyone else is in their own bed, turning over their own conversations, running their own loops. We are all, most of us, doing this to ourselves in the dark.

Psalm 37 verses 23 and 24 stopped me recently.

"The Lord directs the steps of the godly.

He delights in every detail of their lives.

Though they stumble, they will never fall —

for the Lord holds them by the hand."

He delights in every detail.

Not the edited version of me. Not the version that measured her words more carefully before speaking. The actual me — the one who names the thing in the room that everyone else is quietly relieved someone finally named.

He made that. He delights in that.

He delights in my audacity to challenge the elephant in the room, in the insight I seem to have, the foresight that seem clear to me, but not to others.

He delights in the particular way I am wired to notice what others would rather leave unnoticed.

I beat myself up for not fitting neatly in many spaces, but the verse does not say He tolerates every detail of our lives. It says He delights.

And even when I get it wrong — and sometimes I do — it says though they stumble, they will never fall. Because He is holding my hand.

Not directing or guiding me from a distance. Holding my hand – He is close enough to take hold of my hand.

These days, I think about it for a shorter amount of time, take it as an opportunity for reflection, and then I leave it alone.

leave it alone Now.

I pick myself up, dust myself off, apologize when needed, take ownership and accountability, but I don't stay there too long. I no longer ruminate.

Maybe the night-time loop doesn't need to be solved. Perhaps it just needs a hand to hold it and that’s the hand that holds mine.

Catch Me

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:54:01 GMT

Catch Me

This morning, I woke up with a thought resting gently on my heart.

My children play a game they call Catch Me. I’m not sure it exists as that name in other families, but that’s what they named it. One child stands in front of the other, back turned, and simply falls, trusting that the person behind them will catch them. The sheer amount of laughter garnered during this game tells me there is no fear attached.

I don't like this game. It is hard to watch; I hold my breath in the hope that we don’t end up in emergency care all in the name of fun. But they love it.

Even when they let each other fall almost to the ground before catching them, they still keep playing. And as they've grown older, I've noticed something: my eldest plays less. Maybe because life teaches us caution. Maybe because trust and playfulness slowly give way to realism. It could well be because teenagers are not easy to predict or because he’s having to do all the catching being so tall. The realisation of him no longer playing came to me only now – I hadn’t really given it much thought – simply grateful to reduce the risk of accidents.

And this morning, I wondered: when was the last time I played ‘Catch Me’ with God?

Not the careful, considered version of trust where I release a little and watch to see what happens before I release a little more. The real version. Back turned. Eyes forward. Falling.

Scripture says:

trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him.

Trusting with all your heart means letting go without turning around first. It means falling before the hand reaches you, knowing it will.

When was the last time I released myself fully, without checking first whether He would catch me?

I know this: in the seasons where I have truly let go, for example, when as a newly married wife, I got the medical diagnosis of endometriosis so severe that it threatened my ability to conceive, I simply handed all control over, and maybe because it was so big, I had no iota of worry – I simply relaxed into His will.

And God most certainly caught me

I could not have planned my way to where I am. The diagnosis said one thing. God said another. And because the thing was so much larger than my ability to manage it, I simply let go. Not heroically. Just necessarily.

And He caught me.

And carried me.

And gave me three children I was told I might never have.

So when I ask myself when was the last time I truly played Catch Me with God, I already know the answer. I know what it felt like. I know what it cost to fall. And I know what it means to be caught by hands that do not miss.

The question is whether I am willing to fall again. Perhaps that is what trust without fear looks like in a body. Not courage summoned. Just hands that opened because they had to. And a God who was already there.

Hand Series

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:50:41 GMT

The Hand Series

Why the hand?

it's a good question. When the first article emerged, it wasn't an intentional thing to create a series or a theme. At least I had not intentionally set out that way.

Digging deeper however, I remember in the congregation or denomination I grew up in as a new Christin, I heard a prayer that would stick with me for many years, even till now – it is something along the lines of ‘God, I seek your face and not your hand’.

This prayer was positioned as superior. I’m by no means saying that it is or that it isn’t, rather my understanding and interpretation of it suggests that seeking God's face is a better place to be or a better thing to be seeking after than to seek his hand, which is to only want what he can give. Because of that, I had not really focused on the hand of God.

Recently, I’ve been reflecting on the hand that holds me, me personally, in my day to day, in my walk of faith, in my journey of life. This led me to thinking about the Hand of God.

I have walked through difficult seasons without the benefit of a mother's gentle touch or a father's hug.

For a long time. I simply started to see God not just as my heavenly father that is high, lofty, powerful awe-inspiring, but also a God that is dearly close to me, he closes the proximity, comes close to me and hugs me – pours out so much love that I feel hugged and ultimately held.

That’s how the hand series emerged.

As a child of God, I need to see all of God and explore all that he has to offer, not that I have come anywhere close. However, the excitement, the joy of getting a clearer glimpse of an aspect that I hadn’t seen before:

What does a God who fathers the fatherless look like up close?

What does that look like in my reality, my day to day, my work, my mindset and in how I interpret the world.

I hope that it does bless someone as it is blessing me, I hope that the series encourages someone. I also hope that it challenges someone to look at God from a lens they hadn't looked at God before.

The Hand That Holds Mine

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:41:49 GMT

The Hand That Holds Mine

This morning, I came across a scripture:

“I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you.” Isaiah 41:13

I paused. Took a deep breath.

Not because I’ve never seen it before but because I have. Many times.

“Do not fear.” “Do not be afraid.” It really familiar.

And if I’m honest, fear is familiar too. It shows up everywhere: externally in the world around us, and internally in ways we don’t always say out loud.

It is presented on a platter in the news, in finances, in leadership, in corporate cultures. in relationship, in expectations and in the quiet pressure to hold everything together.

And then there are the fears that don’t even have substance, but still feel real.

So yes, we understand fear.

But this morning, it wasn’t the “do not fear” that stayed with me.

It was this: “I take hold of your right hand.”

Because so often, I read scripture as instruction, something I need to do.

But this felt different, it wasn’t about my effort. This was about God moving first.

He takes hold of my hand: The Lord, MY God.

Not when I’ve built up enough faith, not when I’ve got clarity on my next step, not when I’ve figured things out, not when I’ve stretched my hand out perfectly.

He meets me HERE. He meets you right THERE.

Even when I don’t have the energy or when trust feels thin and fear is still present.

He takes hold and then He says: “Do not fear. I will help you.”

Not “try harder.” Not “fix it.”
but “ I will help you .”

That changes something, it re-emphasises that God doesn’t just stand nearby. He comes close. He holds. He helps.

So today, if fear feels loud, debilitating, or quietly lingering — whatever form it’s taken in your day to day, I want to leave you with this:

Take a breath.

Picture God standing with you.
Holding your hand.
Doing what you don’t have the strength to do right now.

And ask yourself:

Where am I still trying to carry something that God is already offering to hold with me? Lay it down.

This is The Quiet Well. Take a breath.

You are completely loved! Don’t forget that.

…Until next time.

The best NO

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 16:17:05 GMT

The Best 'NO'

Sometimes, the hardest 'NO' is the one we say to ourselves, and it can transform our potential into tangible results, whether that be in leadership, decision-making or personal growth.

We hear all too often that our "feelings are valid". I challenge this mindset and say:

Not every feeling is valid

Not every idea should be acted on

Not every impulse deserves attention

Not every thought needs to be spoken

In the workplace, this matters more than we think. The ability to set internal boundaries, knowing when to pause, when to hold back, and when to reframe, can be the difference between reacting and leading, between disaster and progress, between alignment and confusion.

This is not about staying silent in key moments or lacking the courage to speak up, which perpetuates the awful cycle of 'suffering in silence'. Rather, this is about intentional restraint that empowers us in the workplace (and in life) by allowing us to act with intention, clarity and purpose inside the remit of our self-imposed boundaries.

Saying 'no' to oneself is a powerful act of discipline. It is a way of honouring our own boundaries and staying aligned with set personal standards. This practice does not merely shape who we become; it influences how we show up in the world of work and at home, how we perceive and support others. It can even alter our unique leadership approach and what we ultimately reward in a person or team. It can drive us from being overly empathetic to becoming more compassionate - knowing how to gently but firmly say no to others, out of practice with ourselves.

I'm sure we can all think of many scenarios that would have had better outcomes if someone had taken the time to practise self-discipline, if they had simply said 'NO' to themselves first and meant it. For this skill to be embedded, it takes practice, it takes grit, it takes determination. Like anything worth pursuing, it takes digging deep, turning up when you don't feel like it, facing the challenge head-on, and sometimes, choosing vulnerability.

Oftentimes, no is not weakness; it is wisdom, it is power, it is control.

The 'no' you choose to say to yourself could be the most important 'no' you'll ever say

Have you ever had to say ‘No’ to yourself and realised that it changes the trajectory or the eventual outcome?

The Lord's Prayer

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 16:45:01 GMT

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from the evil one.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.

Amen.