Saturday 23 January 2016

Dear Pilgrim available this weekend to download on Kindle for FREE!


This weekend, January 23rd -24th, Dear Pilgrim is available to download on Kindle absolutely free! If you haven't yet got your copy, do take advantage of this great offer, or use the opportunity to gift a copy to a friend.

Click here for Amazon UK.

Click here for Amazon US.

I pray you are blessed.

Monday 14 December 2015

An interview by Becky Pliego


My dear friend, Becky Pliego, who lives in Mexico, invited me to join her at her blog, Daily on my way to Heaven, to talk about Dear Pilgrim and share the story of my own pilgrimage. I would encourage you to go and visit her website by clicking here to read the interview. I am also excited to announce that she is giving away a free copy of Dear Pilgrim, so for the opportunity to enter the draw do visit and leave a comment on her website.

Becky also wrote a devotional for this website called "Dear Pilgrim, will you come to the table?" which you can read here.

Becky, I am so grateful to you for your encouragement with Pilgrim. May the Lord strengthen and encourage you in Him and lead you in paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. Much love to you!

Monday 23 November 2015

Dear Pilgrim is now available on Kindle!


I received feedback from friends that they wanted to have an easier way to pass the book on to people who lived overseas, and so in response I am excited to announce that Dear Pilgrim is now available on Kindle! This Kindle feature allows you to read the first 6 chapters online before buying.

Click here for Amazon UK.

Click here for Amazon US.

I am also happy to announce that Dear Pilgrim is now available in Canaan Christian Bookshop, located in Staines.

I always welcome comments and feedback from readers, so please feel free to add your thoughts below.

God bless you.

Monday 5 October 2015

We have 2 winners!


I am delighted to announce that the draw for the book giveaway has taken place and we have not one, but two winners! My son, Harry, was delighted to be given responsibility for the draw, and the numbered balls he drew out of the bag had been allocated to the following names:

The hardback copy goes to: Melissa Jackson

The paperback copy goes to: Diane Bucknell

Please let me have your postal addresses, and a personally signed copy of Dear Pilgrim will be with you shortly!

Thank you so much to everyone who put their names forward. 

I am also delighted to announce that the book is now available to purchase online through Amazon and their partners. 

For British customers you can go to: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dear-Pilgrim-Diana-Lovegrove/dp/099292040X

For American customers: http://www.amazon.com/Dear-Pilgrim-Diana-Lovegrove/dp/099292040X

May God bless you all.



Wednesday 23 September 2015

Dear Pilgrim book giveaway!


It is with great joy that I can announce that Dear Pilgrim is being made available to purchase as a book. It is one thing to read articles on a screen, but nothing is quite the same as having a book in the hand to hold. Bringing together 56 devotional articles, the book features many of the Dear Pilgrim blog posts published on this blog in the past 2 years, plus many more never before published. Compiling the book allowed for a journey to develop throughout the series of articles, as Pilgrim is called out of the world to journey upwards from the valleys to Mount Zion.

It was my desire to make available both a paperback and a hardback version. Within the next week or two, Lord willing, both hardback and paperback copies will become available through online retailers.

To celebrate, I have 2 copies to give away to fellow pilgrims. The first prize will be a hardback copy, the second prize will be a paperback copy.

All you need to do is leave your name in the comment field at the bottom of this post. The first name picked out of the hat on Monday 5th October will receive the hardback copy, and the second name out of the hat will receive the paperback copy. The winners will be announced on this blog on Monday 5th October, at which point I will ask you to email me with your address.

I will update this site with links to the online retailers once they become available, should you wish to purchase your own copy.

Closing date for entries: Sunday 4th October 2015.

Saturday 18 July 2015

Dear Pilgrim, has He breathed upon you?


Dear Pilgrim, has He breathed upon you? Has the living God breathed life into you?

For so long, dear Pilgrim, you chased after the wind. When you surveyed all your hands had done, all you had toiled to achieve, you saw that everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind, that nothing was gained under the sun (Ecclesiastes 2:11). You saw that everyone, yourself included, is senseless and without knowledge, shamed by the idols they trust in, for those images are false – for they have no breath in them (Jeremiah 10:14).

But God, the God who gives breath to all living things, came and He called your name. The One in whose hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind (Job 12:10) came near. The One who made the heavens by His word and their starry host by the breath of His mouth (Psalm 33:6) came close to you.

He came so close that He breathed into your nostrils – He gave you the kiss of life.

He breathed, and His breath came from the four winds (Ezekiel 37:9).

He breathed, and the east wind came! The east wind came in judgement to scorch, to wither and shrivel up the fruit of the world from you (Ezekiel 19:12). For this fruit has no place in Him, this fruit that you bore for death (Romans 7:5). It was consumed by the east wind of judgement.

He breathed, and the north wind came! The north wind came in power and brought an unexpected storm upon you (Proverbs 25:23). You saw clearly for the first time your meaningless chasing after the wind. O Pilgrim, how you cried out to Him as you stood there, stripped and naked before Him, as the storm blew away all the fig leaves that you had attempted to clothe yourself in, your own righteousness of filthy rags ripped away by the powerful north wind.

He breathed, and the west wind came! The west wind carried your sins and iniquities far away (Exodus 10:19). The west wind came and hurled your iniquities into the depths of the sea. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12).

He breathed, and the south wind came! The gentle south wind (Acts 27:13) brought a hush and calmness upon you (Job 37:17) as He clothed your nakedness with His own righteousness. For the first time you rested in Him. A wondrous peace came into your heart as realisation dawned on you that you had been reconciled to Him. He gave you the kiss of life – and righteousness and peace kissed each other deep within your heart (Psalm 85:10), the heart that He had now won for Himself.

So His breath came from the four winds, and brought life (Ezekiel 37:9). The One who rebuked the wind (Mark 4:39-41) and terrified His disciples when they saw how the wind obeyed Him came, and He breathed upon you and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). And for the first time you were able to exclaim, “The Spirit of God has made me, the breath of the Almighty gives me life!” (Job 33:4). And you began to see that it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding (Job 32:8), for understanding comes from the mouth of the Lord (Proverbs 2:6).

O Pilgrim, you now see how meaningless it is to trust in idols. For when those who trust in them cry out for help, the wind will carry the idols off, a mere breath will blow them away (Isaiah 57:13). There is no breath in the mouth of the idols (Psalm 135:17). But His breath, the breath of the living God, is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck (Isaiah 30:28). The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen (Job 37:10). The valleys of the sea are exposed and the foundations of the earth are laid bare at His rebuke, at the blast of breath from His nostrils (2 Samuel 22:16). With righteousness He will come and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth; with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked (Isaiah 11:4). The Lord Jesus will overthrow the lawless one with the breath of His mouth and destroy him by the splendour of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Who is like our God?

O Pilgrim, as we tremble, watching and waiting for His return, may we draw close to Him. May we lean against His breast, just as the beloved disciple did, and who was later chosen to receive a great revelation from Him. For the One who creates the wind is the One who reveals His thoughts to mankind (Amos 4:13). May the God-breathed words of Scripture be our meditation and our food, as He unfolds His words to give us understanding. May the fragrance of our breath be to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. And may He receive praise from everything that has breath!

Tuesday 19 May 2015

Dear Pilgrim, are you approaching the valley of deep darkness?


Dear Pilgrim, are you approaching the valley of deep darkness? Does your heart lurch within you as you are confronted with this valley? As your enemy pursues you, crushing you to the ground, forcing you towards the valley of darkness, do your fears rise? As the gates of this valley of deepest darkness open for you as you pass through, does your courage fade?

Pilgrim, there is no need to fear any evil as you walk through this valley, for He is with you, His rod and His staff will comfort you. Listen to His Word of comfort: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you”.

As you walk through this valley, Pilgrim, are any memories being stirred in your mind? Does any of this look familiar to you? In this valley of darkness, there are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay on its paths (Job 24:13). All their days they eat in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger (Ecclesiastes 5:17). They are prisoners, sitting in darkness, suffering in iron chains (Psalm 107:10).

Ah, Pilgrim, I see a look of realization dawning upon you – this is where you and I used to dwell! We were willing subjects of the dominion of darkness. We did not want to come to the light, for fear that our deeds of evil would be exposed (John 3:19-20). We thought the darkness would hide us. We thought even light would become night around us, and that we could keep our faces concealed. We committed our deeds of sin in the dark, and made friends with the terrors of darkness (Job 24:13-17).

And then we saw something, dear Pilgrim. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned (Isaiah 9:2). And then we heard something, dear Pilgrim. We heard Him call! He called us! He called us out of darkness into His wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9)! And as we turned our faces towards the Light, He brought us out of darkness, out of utter darkness, and broke away our chains (Psalm 107:14)!

Pilgrim, take heart from the fact that your dislike of this valley is so intense. This is a sign of His grace towards you! For He has rescued you from the dominion of darkness and brought you into the kingdom of the Son He loves (Colossians 1:13)! You are now a child of the light and a child of the day. You do not belong to the night or to the darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:5)!

For the Lord our God is making distinctions, Pilgrim. He is making distinctions between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not (Malachi 3:18). At the dawn of creation, He saw that the light was good and He separated the light from the darkness (Genesis 1:4). He brought a plague of darkness upon Egypt, a darkness that could be felt, so that the people of Egypt could not see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived (Exodus 10:21-23). As He delivered His people from Egypt and brought them to the sea, His pillar of cloud stood between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other (Exodus 14:19-20). See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you (Isaiah 60:2). The Lord our God is making distinctions, Pilgrim.

So do not fear as you pass through the valley of deep darkness, dear Pilgrim. This is no longer the place of your abode. You are now a foreigner, an alien, a stranger, to this valley. It no longer has any hold over you. For the darkness is passing, the true Light is already shining (1 John 2:8). For He who is the Light of the world is with you, and His words are true: “Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). So even here, as you cross the valley of deep darkness, the Light of Life is with you, precious Pilgrim. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5)! He is your lamp, and He will turn your darkness into light (2 Samuel 22:29). Even in darkness, light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous (Psalm 112:4).

So take courage, dear Pilgrim. You will pass through this valley. For this is not your home. You are heading for the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, whose gates are never shut, for there will be no night there (Revelation 21:25). No night! For God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). There will be no night there, and there will be no need for a lamp, or the sun, for He Himself will give the light (Revelation 22:5)! What a glorious hope this is to meditate upon as you pass through this valley.