An Adventure in Ministry

  I have been thinking for some time about sharing a little bit about what has been going on in my life over the last couple of months. Some of you will know that it has been a roller coaster ride with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.  Over the last 12 years my husband and I have been walking through infertility, being diagnosed with unexplained infertility after tests 11 years ago. Through this time I have experienced great pain and grief, but also great blessings and joy. I have learned so much about God, who he is and who I am in him. God also led us to adopt and 7 years ago  We brought our beautiful daughter home.  In the years that have followed we have prayed for and believed that God would do a miracle and I would get pregnant naturally, and recently my prayers were answered! It took 5 tests for it to sink in! We praised the Lord and continued to pray for a happy, healthy and non-descript pregnancy.  However, on my 40th birthday I began to not...

  The last few days we have had the blessing of some glorious spring sunshine, and it has been amazing to see the difference that this has made. People seem happier, they seem to have a spring in their step and they are even friendlier! This morning as I walked my daughter to school in the sunshine, one of the regular dog walkers, who usually says hi and shuffles on their way, stopped and had a conversation with me about how glorious the sunshine was. This encounter got me thinking! The sun has a profound effect on our bodies including Sleep : Our body produces Melatonin which helps us sleep. Research suggests that sunshine helps us to regulate our natural body rhythms telling our bodies when to produce melatonin, so the more sunshine you get, the better you will sleep. Stress : Melatonin also regulates our stress levels, so time spent in the sunshine, especially when engaging in physical activity can reduce your stress levels significantly. Bones : The sunshine causes our ...

From Christmas day 2024 there were a few days of intense fog. We were travelling back and forth visiting family, and often while driving through the fog, you couldn't see anything in front of you. As we drove down country roads we felt completely alone as we couldn't see anything that surrounded us. Familiar roads became eerily unfamiliar as the fog obscured anything recognisable.  On Sunday 29th December the fog finally lifted. and it was glorious! As we drove to worship the world seemed lighter and brighter and the sun shone once more. I didn't realised how the fog had obscured everything until once more we were able to see the distant hills with the sun shining upon us. Those hills were so appealing that I simply wanted to go and climb them, sit at the top and look out at view that stretches for mile upon mile.  Each year around this time, I take the opportunity to consider all the things that God has done in the year before and ask God to reveal to me a word I can carry...