An Adventure in Ministry

  This week we had the absolute joy of going on retreat and sharing with other ministers in the Salvation Army working across the North West of England. For us it was a wonderful time of affirmation and allowed time for the spirit to minister to us through teaching, challenge and healing.  While at breakfast one morning, we were sharing with someone about some of the challenges we have faced in the past couple of years and how God has been faithful throughout it all, and they made a comment that has been percolating in my spirit ever since. They said that in times of difficulty “God has a way of directing the disruption” The phrase hit me like a ton of bricks! The more I thought of it, the more I could see this principle at work in my life.  The retreat we were attending was due to have a guest speaker who had to pull out three days before the event due to ill health. I can only imagine the disruption that ensued as our leaders tried to bring it all together. However we s...

  This Week has been World Down Syndrome Day. It is a day to recognise the beauty in all those people who have an extra chromosome and to raise awareness of some of the discrimination and hurdles that they face. As I sat pondering on this and what this means for my family and in partiular my beautiful daughter who happens to have Down Syndrome, I began to write and this poem appeared. I shared it on social media and people commented on how much it had touched them so I thought it deserved a permanent spot on my blog. So here it is. Until I met you, I longed to love and cherish a child of my own, someone to call me mum Until I met you I craved for the sound of belly laughs filling my home and for mucky handprints found in the dust. Until I met you I had faith that God would fulfill his promises to me, that I might be blessed. Then I met you, and you became the answer to my prayers. Until I met you I never knew the love that fiercely protects, advocates and fights for the very best. ...

  This week I have been thinking about the kingdom principle of being faithful in the little things. On Sunday I am teaching on this and while preparing to preach I like to sit and permeate on the topic and what it means for me. I often find too that before I teach on a topic, I have to practically learn about it for myself. Paul and I often remark on how God first teaches us the lesson before we teach it to others…I’ll save what happened when Paul taught on healing until another day!!! Luke 16:10 says: "The one who faithfully manages the little he has been given will be promoted and trusted with greater responsibilities." A couple of weeks ago I had an instance where God called me to be faithful in something little and although it was only a ‘little; thing it took great boldness. Let me tell you about my experience… My phone contract was up for renewal and I had decided I wanted to leave the provider I have been with for nearly 20 years and go with a new one. However, as...

  It has been a long long winter…. and i’m not talking about the world outside! As ecclesiasties 3:1 says: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:” Sometimes you might feel the warmth of summer and other times it might feel a little bit colder. The past six months for me has been bitterly cold and I have felt a little like I was in a winter that would not end. Through this time I have been clinging to the fact that this too shall pass and verses like Peter 5:10-11: And then, after your brief suffering, the God of all loving grace, who has called you to share in his eternal glory in Christ, will personally and powerfully restore you and make you stronger than ever. Yes, he will set you firmly in place and build you up. And he has all the power needed to do this—forever! Amen. 1 Peter 5:10‭-‬11 TPT Thankfully after some very dark days this season began to come to an end and I began to see signs of spring apparent in my life. For us as a fam...

Recently I had a pretty scary experience with my daughter. She had been struggling with a cold and it had began to settle on her chest. One of the difficulties of children with Down Syndrome is their ‘pipes’ are usually a little smaller and so they can have colds move to their chest easier with a more dangerous consequence. As I sat and watched my daughter lying on me and having a second nap of the day (which is almost unheard of!) I started to worry. She was really laboured in her breathing. Every time she breathed it took the whole of her body to enable it and it was clearly getting worse. It wasn’t long before we were taking a very poorly little girl to accident and emergency. It was a very distressing night with lots of tests, lots of treatment and a good dose of oxygen. Thankfully the little one is back to her usual self and is doing well, but reflecting on the experience I have learned something about the nature of God. In the bible, in its original translation, the name for Go...

  I have always enjoyed football and there is nothing better than a European or World tournament. I have watched nearly every match of the European tournament this year and have loved (nearly) every minute of it! However, over the past few years I have began to notice something that makes me feel uncomfortable and this year I felt I needed to speak out.   I did most of my growing up in Liverpool and became a supporter of Everton Football club. I enjoyed watching matches but I also enjoyed cheering on Liverpool FC when they did better than my team and achieve cups and awards, after all Liverpool was my city and anything we as a city achieved was good in my book!   When watching sport I also enjoy cheering on other countries in the United Kingdom, having lived in Wales, and now living in Scotland, over the Euros I have loved celebrating their success and cheering them on! However I have been horrified to discover that this is not the case for everyone and in fact in...

A few weeks ago, as part of our staycation exploring Scotland, we decided to take a day trip to the Isle of Arran. The Island holds a special place in my husband’s heart and he couldn’t wait to show our daughter all the places he frequented on his childhood holidays.  In the afternoon we spent some time on a beautiful beach and as I sat listening to the sound of the sea, I had a magical moment where I could almost hear the sound of bagpipes on the breeze. However the sound continued for some time and we realized that the sound was real – there really were bagpipes playing! In fact there was a group of people doing a bagpipe display for a primary school in the local park. My daughter absolutely loves the bagpipes and will happily watch you tube videos of them all day long! So you can imagine how excited she was to seem some in the flesh! Later as we sat on the beach we started to talk about how, often when we are on holiday or daytrip adventures, we find there happens to be interest...