An Adventure in Ministry

  Recently we went away camping in our van, and one of the biggest challenges I find when I am away is sleep! Not particularly my sleep, I’m an early bird, so my favourite time of day when camping is having a large coffee in the stillness before the campsite comes alive. It’s not the sleep of my husband that is the challenge, his horrendously loud snoring always shows how good he sleeps, (thank the Lord for ear plugs!) It’s the sleep of our little girl that poses the biggest challenge to our peace. You see, our little girl has a habit of fighting sleep and always has. She has a suitcase full of strategies to ensure she doesn’t sleep. She may sing to keep herself awake, poke herself in the eye, shake herself if she feels she is drifting off and she will even try to physically fight me if I try to hold her! It can be terribly frustrating knowing that sleep is the best thing for her, that the consequence of staying up late will not be good for her, or any of us, and that what she will...

  We have just come back from a beautiful summer holiday travelling around Norfolk in our newly converted van that I affectionately have named ‘Tristan!!’ It was a much needed time away, but I must admit I struggled, at times, to get into the rhythm of rest and find my peace. While spending time in prayer and reflection one morning while enjoying my morning cup of coffee, I felt God whisper a phrase to me. The phrase was ‘Fight for peace’ ‘Fight For Peace’  Initially the phrase made me feel uncomfortable. They seem to be the antithesis of one another! But as I spent some time considering this in line with the scriptures, I began to see the wisdom in the phrase.  I began to read scriptures about peace and see them in a completely new way. For example: "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests t...

There are days when we feel like we could take on the world, and days when we feel we couldn’t fight our way out of a paper bag! This morning I feel useless! In fact, worse than useless! Don’t get me wrong, there are so many great things going on. I am seeing fruit in my ministry, my marriage and my family but I still feel like I want to pull the duvet over my head and never emerge. Maybe it’s tiredness, maybe it’s because I’m coming down with a cold or maybe I am letting the devil tell me what a failure I am (!)  but It all seems too much. This morning, as I read my daily devotionals (If you are a woman on fire for God and looking for a great daily devotional check out http://herbinderproject.com/ it is fabulous!!) God gave me a message. As I read Psalm 89v8 I felt in awe of his power and faithfulness. I then received a picture of a child hiding behind their father’s legs. I'm sure you have seen the scenario. The dad and child are out and the Dad has seen someone the...