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For those who struggle with Mothers Day...you are not alone!

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I have to make a confession…this year I have really struggled with mothers day. In the past few years I have been really active in helping others who struggle with the day, creating resources to be used by leaders in The Salvation Army, organising alternative mothers day services for those who find it hard, and praying with and for women in the support group I ran for christians walking through infertility. Most years I lead our church services on mother’s day, however this year I have to admit I would much rather lie in bed under a duvet than celebrate! Mothers day is full of complicated feelings. I am so blessed to have an amazing mum who is always there for me and a great example of what an amazing mum should be! However I always battle the feeling of only being ‘half a mum’ I have three beautiful daughters who I love deeply, however they have a mum who loves them, and I have seen the conflict in them in mother’s days past. I have the most beautiful little girl who came home five ye

Living a life interrupted at God's pace

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  One of my favourite podcasts to listen to is called ‘Back porch theology’ by Lisa Harper, and a couple of months ago she shared something that I have returned to a number of times. She shared a concept written about by a Japanese theologian called Koyama Kosuke. He asserted that Jesus did the majority of his ministry while travelling on foot as the average speed of walking is three miles an hour, Jesus’ ministry was done at the pace of three miles an hour. Ministry at this pace makes space for conversation, thought, cultivating relationships and even interruptions. This is a challenge for so many of us today who live life speeding from one thing to the next! Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life together talks about living a life open to interruptions. “We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and cancelling our plans by sending up people with claims and petitions. We may pass them by, preoccupied with our more important tasks…It i

Lost things!

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I’m sure we all have things about our own character and actions that frustrate ourselves…(or maybe that is just me!!!) But one thing about me that I really annoy myself with is that I am so often in a rush that I have a tendency to put things down and lose things. I misplace my keys multiple times a week and now have lanyards on both my work and house keys to make them more difficult to lose! I am forever phoning my mobile phone to find it again and it’s often under a pile of things or shoved down the sofa cushion! However once in a while I lose something of great importance and it drives me mad!  Just before Christmas I lost something very precious to me. Over the years I have been collecting charms on my pandora bracelet and it held great sentimental value. There is a charm of a torah scroll brought on my pilgrimage to Israel, a charm that I brought to celebrate my daughter coming to be a part of our family, my first ever mum charm gifted on mothers day after years walking through in

How my favourite clothing company taught me all about the abundance of God!

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For the last few days I have been thinking about one of my favourite bible verses and one which I often claim for myself and that is John 10:10 that declares  “A thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—life in its fullness until you overflow!” I love this verse and there have been times in my life where I have seen my abundant God shower blessings upon me and do truly miraculous things. But, I have to be honest with you life isn’t always like that. Maybe it is for you and I am so thankful for your experience, but that’s not my experience!  I have had a really rough couple weeks. As a minister Christmas is always so busy and this year even more so as I juggle long distance study with The Salvation Army’s officer training college. The time between Christmas and new year is usually a lovely time of rest, reset and seeking God for the year ahead, but that certainly hasn’t been the

Word of the year 2024

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Throughout the years, as one year draws to a close and a new one is on the horizon, I have asked God to give me a word to take me through the next year. The words have always been prophetic and it has been fascinating to see how that year has been woven through circumstances and situations in my life. The words have always filled me with excitement, words such as Joy, Adore, Restore and Wait. This year, however, when I spent time with God asking him what word he had for me this year, when he revealed the word (or two!) to me  I didnt feel the usual bubble of excitement, and as I researched the word I came to understand why!  The words that God gave me for 2024 were ‘Patient Endurance’ As I began to look at where these words appear together in the bible, I discovered that they always tend to appear when talking about trials, suffering and even the end of days! I must admit I did have a bit of an argument with God about it, telling him I didn’t want the words for the year 2024, but after

Advent: Just eat the chocolate!

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  One of the things I love the most about Christmas is the food! There are so many delicious things to eat and drink over Christmas and I find myself guarding the cupboards and fridge in the build up declaring “You Can’t Eat that…It’s for Christmas!” This year God has been challenging me and my thinking of advent and in a funny way it has changed the way I consider all those Christmas treats!  Advent is a season of waiting and is all about awaiting Christmas and the birth of Jesus. Throughout this time we wait with anticipation and expectancy, and there seems to be a stillness in the waiting. This is often contrasted sharply with the preparation, the busyness and ‘doing’ of sharing the news about the coming of Jesus.  For many years I have found this a really difficult tension. I feel guilty about the ever, growing to do list if I slow down to the advent rhythm of waiting  or even stop for a while. I often feel too, however, that I am failing to wait well if I go about doing all the th

Christmas Carols unwrapped: God rest ye merry gentlemen

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One of the things that fascinated me when I was a secondary school teacher was the new words children would come up with and use. They weren’t necessarily made up words, but they took words and changed its meaning to make it ‘trendy’ . The truth is Language is often changing and evolving and we see a great example of this in the carol ‘God rest ye merry gentlemen. The meaning of the words of that famous first line has changed since it was written roughly around the 1500s.  This carol was first put into print in 1760 and at that time the word ‘rest’ meant to keep or continue or make, and the word ‘merry’ meant great or mighty. Therefore the first line should read: ‘God make you mighty, Gentlemen!’ The carol was made popular by Charles Dickens in his book ‘A Christmas Carol’ in which it describes: “... at the first sound of ‘God bless you, merry gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!’, Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to