Ann Hutchison
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Master, Are YOU Worried?
Hello friends, Ann here. I’ve had a little discovery this week that has totally made me smile, and I thought I’d share it. It’s to do with my husband: Bryce has a trait that can teach me a lesson or two about my walk with God. It’s this: He has not an anxious bone in…
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Are You Weary? Let’s Take Communion
My friends, Ann here. I normally try to write something on the cheery side but sat down earlier to do that and … Mm, I'm not quite in that space. See, for the last two weeks I’ve been mostly horizontal on my couch feeling a bit physically unwell. So that's the tone of today's post:…
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Belief vs. Unbelief: A Final Thought
Hi SUM family, Ann here. It’s been fun this past week thinking about the different factors that go into belief vs unbelief. Thanks for reading along, and for your comments — Reading what you had to say was like iron-sharpening-iron! I know theologians write about deep matters like predestination and free will. But for us…
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Belief vs Unbelief: The Father’s Grand Clock
Ann here! We’ve been talking about the ingredients that go into belief vs. unbelief. In part one we talked about the power of free will. Then, in part two we talked about the influence of the demonic. Well, today I want to talk about the Father's Grand Clock. That is, the fact that God might have…
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Belief vs Unbelief: The Enemy’s Influence
Dear friends, Ann here. We’re in a series about what goes into belief vs. unbelief. Part one was about free will, and I loved reading your comments. Today I want to talk about another factor: The influence of the demonic. One of the earliest questions I had for God was, “Is Satan really real?” It…
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Belief vs Unbelief: The Power of Free Will
Hi friends, Ann here! I've been thinking lately about the topic of belief vs. unbelief, and all the different spiritual ingredients that go into that. Like many of you, I have a mixture of believers and unbelievers in my life, and often look at those who don't believe and wonder what is going on there. …
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How Do We Linger Long with the Lord?
Dear friends, Ann here. Last week I shared a story about a shift in my home. A good shift. If you missed that post, you can read it here. Essentially, a peace came and settled between me and my hubby, and we stopped having disagreements about faith or church. Wonderful! Perhaps at some point in…
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One Big Shift In My Home
Hello friends, Ann here. Last week, I mentioned that things had shifted in my home — Quite a lot, in fact. Well, I want to tell you more about that. This photo here is of Bryce and me, on a recent holiday. You wouldn't think we'd had such drama, looking at that peaceful photo! We…
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SUM Community 2021 – Marching Forward!
Dear SUM family, Ann here. I hope you are relishing the moments from last week's community fast. I’m still smiling at it all. And now we turn our minds towards 2021 in earnest. As you know, I’ve been praying about this coming year for us. But somewhat surprisingly, it seems that the word God wanted…
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Fast Day Four: Which Bible Character Captures Your Journey?
Ann here today, on Thursday morning, day four of our fast. How are you all doing? So far, I’ve had no food since Monday sunrise and am feeling doddery. Time with the Lord at this point is simply about ‘being’. I don’t have mental sharpness so am floating around the house, popping on a bit…
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Fast Day Two: The Tenderness of the Father
Ann here! It’s the morning of day two here, and so far so good. Amazingly, my family are talking about ‘Mum’s fast’ and encouraging me along, which has been a new feature this year and it captures how things have shifted in my home. I have a little more to share on that shift below.…
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Fast Day One: What is the Story God Has Written?
Dear SUMites, here we are on day one of our SUM corporate fast! It's Ann here and I can’t help but think that this particular fast is going to be meaningful. There is so much for us to inquire from God about. Our world is literally groaning for healing, and so are we. So we…
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May We Cling Tenaciously to Jesus
Dear friends, Ann here. With only a couple of days until Christmas I wanted to wish you a special time with your loved ones. And I know I speak on behalf of the rest of the team — Lynn, Ian, and Tiffany — in saying a heartfelt 'Merry Christmas' from us! Here is a beautiful…
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Oh, the Sweetness of a Friend!
Hi everyone — Ann here, and a happy Advent season to you all! In the spirit of Christmas, I'd wanted to pick one of the stories from the Gospels to talk about today, but which one to choose? These stories are all so full of wonder. After some thought, I finally landed on a favorite…
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A Donovan Clan Update – Thanksgiving 2020
Hi My SUMite Family, I’m so proud of Ann Hutchison and how she has stepped up to help me with the blogging. She really filled in a space that was desperately needed when Dineen stepped out. Today, I feel like it’s time for a Donovan Clan update. The last update was Thanksgiving 2019 when Mike…
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When a Spouse Leaves the Faith — Part 3
Hi friends, Ann here! When a spouse leaves the faith — part 1 When spouse leaves the faith – part 2 I’d like to thank those SUMites whose stories have helped inform the last two posts on this topic. It is an intensely difficult path. The grief of a lost shared faith in marriage is…
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When a Spouse Leaves the Faith — Part 2
Ann here again! When a spouse leaves the faith, Part 1 Today we're going to continue with the above topic, and I thought I would start with a little story: Last year, I attended a ministry conference. We were a small group, perhaps 100 in the room, and Auckland is a small place so we…
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When A Spouse Leaves Their Faith — Part 1
Ann here! Today I want to talk about a path that is walked by so many here, and it's a really difficult one: ‘When a Spouse Leaves the Faith’. In our community we have many a story to tell about how we found ourselves in a SUM. In my case, for example, I was far…
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Church, We Are Crossing Over!
Dear friends, Ann here! I had a different post planned today, but that can wait until next week. Instead, I thought I'd share a few impromptu thoughts given the present events. We're watching wide-eyed as the US election plays out, and then across the Atlantic many Europeans are entering their second lockdown. It's all pretty…
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On Shedding the ‘Unequally Yoked’ Badge
Hello friends, Ann here! It's been a couple of weeks since I last wrote, but in my last post I shared a story from our archives where the Holy Spirit had given us a caution about using the ‘unequally yoked’ label too much. To catch up, you can read that post here. Today I'm interested…
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Taking Off the Badge
Hi friends, Ann here! We’re currently looking at past words that God has spoken to our community. To catch up, here are the recent posts: Part one – 'Museum of SUM' Part two – 'God is Calling our Spouses' Now, this next word I’m going to share is one where the Lord gave us an…