An Adventure in Ministry

The past couple of months for us has been a little but hectic. In February Paul and I received our farewell orders (Salvation Army language for we were informed that we would be moving to a new church) to take up appointment of A Salvation Army in Scotland. Through lockdown there were many will we, wont we moments, but in July we moved up to temporary accommodation in Scotland and two weeks ago we moved into our new house.  It has been a very surreal time to move and it has been filled with its fair share of challenges, however we have been making the most of some nice weather and exploring the countryside around us.  Yesterday we took a short drive to explore a new place with our daughter and dogs in tow. The past week had been tough and seemed to be filled with many voices and not all positive. I also had people and things on my heart and I was trying to carry them and pray into it. When we got to the place there was a huge queue of cars waiting to enter the carpark and foll...

The other week I received the letter that I had been dreading would come. The letter that said ‘Your daughter needs to be shielded from Covid-19 for a minimum of 12 weeks’ and with that everything changed. Well to be honest it wasn’t as dramatic as that. We had already been isolating for five weeks already and in many ways life would continue much the same as in previous weeks, but as is often the case, along with the letter, the enemy seemed to enter my mind with words of fear, anxiety and worry. Looking to the news for guidance and reassurance did very little to help so I looked to the place that overflows with reassurance and words of comfort, I looked to scripture and I wasn’t disappointed. Psalm 28:7 says: ‘The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with songs I praise him!’ What a promise! The scripture makes it clear that God will shield us, in every situation and even as we shield those...

Every year I like to decorate our house ready for Easter and in pride of place I always have an Easter tree. It is made from the branches of trees from our back garden and I decorate it with different hanging eggs I have collected through the years. This year I put the tree up not long after going into our 12 week isolation as I thought it might cheer the house up a bit. Over the last couple of weeks as our family had been forced into a season of stop – it was amazing to watch how  buds on my Easter tree has grown and leaves have started to unfold bringing bursts of bright green into the room. I have also enjoyed watching as our garden has been filled with returning birds, and I have seen flowers and plants come to life once again . I even saw a story in the news this week about mountain goats coming down from the great Orme and taking over the town of Llandudno! Often in times of busyness I’m known to utter the phrase ‘Stop the world, I want to ge...

Do you ever get songs stuck in your head and no matter what you do, or whatever song you try to listen to it doesn’t seem to go? It is often a cheesy pop classic or a tv theme tune. I have had a song stuck in my head for a couple of weeks now and it is my favourite Christmas carol! It’s a little bit late now as we are a week before Easter! However a few days ago as I pondered the words of the last verse I was struck that now it is more relevant than ever. The Carol is ‘In the Bleak mid winter’ written by Rossetti and the final verse reads: ‘What can I give him poor as I am? If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb; If I were a wise man I would do my part, Yet what I can I give him, Give my heart I have always loved this verse of the carol and when sung on a cold evening in a dark church lit by Christmas trees and chritingles, I always imagine these epic characters in their unlikely roles in the birth of the saviour. I always imagine the shepherds ...

In the last couple of weeks our world seems to have been turned upside down. As a mother to a daughter with complex health needs and as some deemed at risk because of health complications of my own, our lives have changed in many ways and we are committed to a minimum of 12 week isolation in order to keep ourselves safe. This has changed everything about the way I parent and has made ministry a challenge. However one thing I am really grateful for is that we are still able to get out in the countryside to walk the dogs. Living in a rural context has always been a blessing but even more so at this time, a God always speaks to me in such a profound way through nature and this week was no exception. Earlier in the week we went to a local forest to walk the dogs and enjoy a picnic in the sunshine. It was a glorious day and as always our little girl slept through most of the walk but made sure she was awake for the picnic, and the dogs loved running through the trees. We h...