Tag: jesus

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Painting: Breakthrough by Helen Sanderson-White (Copyright 2025 Helen Sanderson-White. Do not reproduce without permission). 

At some point in our lives, we all need breakthrough in a situation. A new beginning, season or provision for projects and plans. Whatever the circumstance, there comes a breaking point where things must change so that life can move on and grow. There are various situations that I have prayed about for years and in some cases decades. Back in 1997, God made me some promises about things to come in my life and over the last 28 years I have seen various parts of these promises come into fruition.  

Promises unfold slowly over time through regular prayer and holding into what God has said. If he said it, it will happen in his timing. But that’s the key: timing. God’s timing is different than our own, and requires patience and a willingness to partner with him in the process of breakthrough. He longs for relationship with us, and this is more important than receiving breakthrough. The journey is more important than the destination because of our growth and development come from knowing God more deeply.  

“The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:24 

Hope is the route to breakthrough, and breakthrough breeds more hope. The two are inextricably linked together and intertwine to become powerful. If you are waiting for a breakthrough, it can feel like waiting for a wall to crack or a barrier to come down. It can feel like there is partition blocking the way ahead; you know the end result, but you don’t know how to get there. Only God can make the way ahead possible.  

A while ago I had a picture of a glass ceiling shattering to reveal the rainbow colours of God’s promise breaking through. The different size dots representing the hopes both large and small that we carry through life, and also his long term promises to me. This greatly encouraged me that breakthrough is on the way and that God’s plan for my life is happening. The rainbow colours also express God’s love for us and the beauty of his promises which blossom throughout our lives. Only God’s love for us can shatter obstacles and bring the hope and amelioration we require.  

Breakthrough can be continuous rather than a one-off event. Sometimes we need the big moment of change that ushers in a season of smaller breakthrough moments, whilst in other seasons the changes are smaller but they bring momentum that accelerates change. The answers to our prayers can be unexpected and leftfield because God’s knowledge of how to bring our situations in line with his will is far greater than our own. 

If we keep moving forward with God, trusting him and his plans for us, he will bring the moments of breakthrough, small, big, quiet and loud when we least expect it. The breakthroughs are great testimonies to tell others, and as we share the stories, God’s glory is shown to others around us.  

The painting is acrylic on canvas and was exhibited in the Destination Hope art exhibition at Gold Hill Baptist Church in April 2025. I am currently working on a piece of music to accompany this painting. Check my website for details of when this piece will be released.  

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Sketch: Breakthrough by Helen Sanderson-White (Copyright 2023 Helen Sanderson-White. Do not reproduce without permission). 

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Twenty years ago, I lived in London and worked teaching music with churches and further education colleges. Most of my work was with underprivileged young people living in areas of deprivation and poverty. Wealthy, salubrious neighbourhoods bordered these city areas, yet for most of the teens and young adults I worked with, this lifestyle was out of reach. They had become accustomed to accepting that their career path would be crime. Shootings and violent attacks in the area happened with alarming regularity, gangs and drugs became an easy option for a living. 

As I reflected on this culture, I wondered how I would express the Gospel to young people who had never heard of Jesus. How would I explain the cross and resurrection to them? As I discussed this with my church youth group, the breakthrough moment came when one of the young people said that the highest honour in gang culture was to take a bullet for a friend. That was the way in for me to explain to an unchurched community what Jesus did for us through his death on the cross and the resurrection: he took the bullet for us, so that we can live with him forever.  

Sometimes we need to understand the culture we are living in so that we can explain the Gospel using a vernacular that our community can relate to; a contemporary example that connects people with the divine. As we go about our week, perhaps we should ask ourselves, in what ways do my community need to hear about Jesus? 

At thirty years old there were words in his head 

He didn’t know where they would lead to 

The burning words, well they all signalled red 

But somehow he had to see it through 

He took the bullet for me, He took the bullet for me 

At thirty years old he took a trip out of town 

He knew he had to speak the truth 

The scholars and vagrants, they branded him a clown 

They didn’t want to see the living proof 

He took the bullet for me, He took the bullet for me

At thirty-three years they put a gun to his head 

They knew they had to end his reign 

What they didn’t know when they left him for dead 

Is that he’d come to reign again 

He took the bullet for me, He took the bullet for me

Copyright 2007 words & music by Helen Sanderson White 

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We’re in a season where many of us are waiting for breakthrough in certain areas of our lives; the hardest part of breakthrough is the waiting period. While we wait, there’s often a series of events that bring the problem to a point of death. The seeming possibility of change disappears, and we realise that our only hope is God intervening; that is a good place to be! The waiting period can be far longer than we anticipate, but the waiting season is there to create a story far greater than we can imagine. The greater the waiting period, the greater the miracle. It’s as though the Lord waits for human reason, logic and possibility to die so that he can bring a supernatural answer to our situation. Something that we could never foresee in the natural. Something that blows us away with his goodness.  

We believe that our miracle is just about us and what we need or want in our lives. We get caught up in how our lives would improve if God would just act when we want him to and we become self-absorbed by focusing on our own needs. However, our miracle story has much wider implications than we realise. Family, friends, those that walk with us in our daily lives also benefit from our breakthrough. They need our story just as much as we do; it feeds them, ignites hope and germinates the seed of faith in them. As God shows off what he can do, it draws the attention of others and in age of social media, testimonies of God’s goodness influence a much wider audience than we ever realise.  

The delay in receiving your miracle could be so that as many people as possible can be reached with your testimony. 2 Peter 3:9 shows us that the Lord doesn’t want anyone to miss out on knowing him, and that he waits for everyone to come into a relationship with him. 

 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 

We know from Jesus’ ministry that every time he performed a miracle for someone, it attracted the attention of the people around him and boosted their faith. His name became known through the life changing acts he performed, and his reputation spread far and wide. The Lord is all about mercy and wants everyone to be in a relationship with him. Your miracle might be just the very thing that brings someone to Jesus. It may also give someone hope that their situation can change too.  

We are currently in two spiritual seasons that celebrate miracles: Hanukkah and Advent. Both celebrate the expectancy that God will breakthrough into impossible situations with a miracle, and the very fact that 2000 years later we still commemorate both these amazing events shows us that God’s intervening power wasn’t meant just for those involved at the time. The stories of these events have been preserved for generations so that they may benefit from it. As we persevere through the waiting period, remember that your situation will help and develop others as well as you. Your miracle is so much bigger than you! So stand back and let the Lord do what he needs to do in your life to get the maximum glory, and the greatest benefit for you and for others too. 

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Last week I was interviewed by Victoria Park Baptist Church in Bristol about my song Where Are You God? This was used as part of their online church service and helped to inspire their prayers for the coming week. They asked me some deep, soul searching questions such as “do you think any good can come out the pandemic?” and we explored my reasons for being so honest with how I felt about the current global crisis. You can see the interview below.

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This a short devotion I wrote for a local church on the subject of Mary’s promise for Jesus’ life…

When we are called to God’s service, we have an expectation of how it will look and pan out. In Luke 1, the angel gives Mary a message that her son “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High”. How shocked she must have been when she laid her newborn son in a cattle trough! God’s message to Mary was of greater things to come, a promise to hold onto when life seemed to be going in the opposite way.

Often we have an idea of how God wants us to serve him, but the reality doesn’t always match our expectations. We become disillusioned and thoughts of quitting roam our minds. It is in these seasons that God reminds us to hold on to the vision he has given us; food for the journey for when the road seems long. God’s plans look different to our own, but we can be sure that his promises always come to pass. If you are following God’s dream for your life, the Lord will see you through the desert to the promised land. As for Mary, her baby may have had a rocky start, but he went on to a glorious ending.

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We live in a society that expects everything instantly. Everything is on demand: TV, films, music, food delivery within the hour, 24 hour shopping. Nothing is out of reach. You want it, you got it. This translates into several other areas of our lives too – we expect to have a good life from a young age. At 18, you should know what you want to do with your life and have the school grades to open doors. By 30, you should have a career, financial security. And so it goes on: marriage, mortgage, kids and life sown up by 40… Modern life wants us to have everything when we’re young; prosperity is a sign that we’ve “made it” and have “success”. 

However, what modern life doesn’t account for, is that we might not be ready or mature enough to receive the things we want. Character and strength take years to develop, and not necessarily through times of ease and joy. Perseverance and wisdom come through trials and times when our backs are up against the wall. If we don’t have the right character, there’s no way we can carry the new in depth experiences or the rewards that we have worked for. We have to learn to steward these things, and steward them well. This means accepting that there is more to life than us. Others may benefit from our experiences and blessings. It’s good to share the joy and rewards as this spreads encouragement and hope. 

If we have everything now, there’s nothing to look forward to later. Life events need to be measured out at a life long pace. It’s not that these events will be equally spaced out, but divinely placed for the right time. Often we have an inkling or desire that is an indication of our destiny, a foretaste of what’s to come that keeps us on track and moving in the right direction. The world wants us to have the mentality of the child in a sweet shop, while God wants us to look to him and trust that he will bring good things at the right time. 

A few weeks ago, I was sketching some ideas for a project and when I started to draw the featured picture. I knew immediately that it was for one of my friends who supports my work, so I sent it to her the next day. She was amazed because she had been discussing the idea of God “saving the best till last” the very same day. In John 2, the wedding party are expecting to have the best wine first but when they run out of wine, Jesus surprises them by turning water into the finest quality wine. He uses a dead end situation to perform a miracle, and to create the miracle, he uses the most mundane thing, water. If he can do that at a joyful event such as a wedding, he will do the same for us in the most dire of situations too. He can take our “nothing” and turn it into a miracle. 

It’s OK to take our time and wait for good things rather than mediocre things. We often settle for what seems good but actually isn’t God’s best for us. Long term these things can harm us, or stunt our growth and relationship with him. All that glitters is not gold, and we can miss out on some exciting things by taking matters into our own hands.  Sometimes things end suddenly or don’t end well and we’re shocked at the change of path. A bad season isn’t forever, everything has an expiration date and life can turn around for the better. Patience and discernment lead to good things, character strength and an exciting future. God is always saving the best till last.  

Illustration: Save The Best Till Last by Helen Sanderson-White (Copyright 2018 Helen Sanderson-White. Do not reproduce without permission).