Hi Frankie (do you still like to be called that or do you prefer Francesca now?). I remember you!

That’s really kind of you, thank you. I’ve checked all the inboxes on Facebook messenger and can’t see anything at the moment so I guess that you haven’t sent it yet? I’ll check the ‘other messages’ every so often to look out for your message.

Thanks so much. x

I am going to message your inbox on FB, please can you read your “other messages”.

I wanted to share some knowledge that I was taught at a book writing camp I attended, and it may help you raise money you need.

I have published my own book and I am very close to publishing my 2nd book.

You probably don’t remember me, but I do remember you 😊

You were always one of the nice ones 😊
Thank you 💖💖💖💖

There are as many opinions on what scripture says as there are people who read it. Everyone will interpret it differently and have their own ideas on how the Bible should be viewed and how it should be read. I don’t think it’s as simple as saying “the Bible says this”. You have to look at the historical contexts into which each bit was written and for whom some books might have been written explicitly (e.g. the letters). Human beings are fallible and it was human beings who put together the Bible as a whole, it was humans who argued and argued over which books should be included. We don’t know if they got it right. As my Mum always says, God gave us brains for a reason. We try to figure things out as best as we can.

We get better at recognising God’s tugs and nudges over time, I think, and recognising his fingerprints. We may make many mistakes along the way and think things to be true that aren’t, but as long as we want our heart to beat with the rhythm of God’s heart and we keep trying to follow him as best as we can, that’s all we can do. Gradually the false stuff gets whittled away.

I’m careful to never say “God is saying this to me” because we can never be certain. It’s better to say “I think God might perhaps be nudging my heart in this direction”.

There is always that tension between imagination and faith. I love imagination so much and it’s a reflection of a part of God’s image in us. I love how much we can play. Playfulness and creativity are very dear to me.

However, I don’t want to make up things that aren’t real. I don’t want to imagine into being, a God of my own making. I try to be careful. Imagination can also often bring in all the doubts and you wonder if you’ve imagined it all and none of it is true. But things that we imagine can also be true.

When I was about 10 years old, I remember being on a long walk with my youth group and asking one of the leaders “how can you tell the difference between God and your imagination?”. The leader gave a fairly standard Christian response (‘you have to ask yourself if what you think God is saying to you fits in with what you see in the Bible’, ‘pray about it’, ‘ask some older Christians about it’) but it felt very unsatisfactory. That advice doesn’t help when you’re dealing with things that the Bible doesn’t cover or speak about or when other Christians don’t have any answers either.

It’s important that the Bible isn’t idolised or thought of as God himself; the Bible isn’t the fourth member of the Trinity. The Bible is something to lead us to a relationship with the living God.

So sorry to hear about how badly the acute depression has affected you.

I love how you phrased what you said about the Bible.

Thanks, Dave. That means a lot. xxx