An Adventure in Ministry

  Just over a month ago I attended an amazing women’s conference for women in The Salvation Army called Riverbank. It was a beautiful weekend of teaching, challenge, fun and friendship and there were so many highlights. Throughout the weekend there were a number of thread that God wove within it. It wove through the speakers and the worship, and was incredibly powerful.  One of these threads was the truth that we can still praise God in the midst of the darkest times. From the frist evening we heard testimony of how people were able to praise God in the midst of trauma and difficulty. This ran through the entire weekend with person after person talking about praising God in the difficult places and finding comfort, power and joy through it all. Each person declared "Still I will praise!"  One of the most powerful moments of the entire conference was on the Saturday morning when our amazing and anointed worship leader sang one of her songs. The song, ‘Still I will pra...

A few months ago our lives were turned upside down (in an utterly gorgeous and beautifully fulfilling way) when finally, after over five years of praying, waiting and believing we brought our beautiful adopted daughter home to her forever family. It has taken me  a while to get used to the title of ‘mum’ and to realise that those aisles in the supermarket that were once too painful to walk down are now the ones I frequent the most!  Having now settled down with miracle I have begun to ponder some of the things that God has taught me through our journey to grow our family. They are lessons that I am still  learning daily and there are burdens that are still very real. I am painfully aware that  although I now have the most perfect little poppet to call me mum, I have never seen a positive pregnancy test, never given birth to a baby and I’m still know as someone with unexplained infertility.  Over the next few week I would love to share 5 th...

Over the past couple of months God has really been speaking to me about the issue of opposition and facing difficult times, and in particular the last couple of weeks has shown this to me in stark contrast. Over the Christmas period At the Salvation Army in Mold we have been incredibly blessed by the generosity of the people in our community. We regularly receive donations of food from both Sainsburys and Tesco and in the run up to Christmas we were collecting and distributing food daily. We also, with the help of generous donations from the public, were able to provide hampers to families in need to ensure that they can celebrate Christmas too. We also ran a toy appeal and were able to give children all over Flintshire a present to open on Christmas Day. All in all thousands of people were effected by the work of the Salvation Army and we pray that many of those saw the face of Jesus in the extravagant love we tried to show.  A highlight for me was on Christmas Eve as Father ...

Just over a year ago, after a lot of prompting from God, and a lot of support from my husband, I began writing a blog. I was coming into a new season, a season of ministry and I wanted to share my journey and experiences with those around me. In this time a song had been resounding in my heart. It was a song that had been with me through some pretty dark days, but now, as I faced a new calling, it took on a new meaning. I prayer this prayer with my whole heart, and over the past year Ephesians 3:20 has proven true God has led me to a place which is amazing, rewarding, blessed, scary and tough all at once! I have learnt so much; God has taken my passion for writing and has turned it into a ministry I never thought possible. God has taken my passion for creativity and taken me deeper and deeper into the word through it. God has taken my passion for people and put me into a place where I have the privilege of telling them about the life giving love of ...

The English novelist Iris Murdoch once said “Prayer” is the most essential of all human activities” and I must say that this is so true. In the past few months I have really tried to focus on creating a regular rhythm of prayer in my life and I have seen just how essential prayer is to every moment of my day. Around 9 months ago I attended a spiritual day for Salvation Army officers and envoys in the North West, led by Majors Mel and Kath Jones. In the afternoon we had the opportunity to pray and reflect. One of the prayer stations was on the Stone Pillar of Jacob. It talked about Genesis 28 when Jacob sees the ladder to heaven. When he awakes he says: ‘Surely the Lord is in this place’ and calls is Bethel which means ‘The house of God.’ We were encouraged to consider where our own Bethel is. In our booklet there was also a quote from Henry Nouwen about finding a place of prayer which has been on my mind ever since it says: “As Jesus invites us, we need to find that private pl...

Today is a good day! The sun is shining, the daffodils on the table I am sitting at are blooming and beautifully scented and as I watch the daily like of my corps go on, I feel so blessed! When I embarked on ministry, I knew it would be diverse, but some days it blows me away! Just this morning (and it's only 10am!) I have spent time soaking in his word, sent copious emails, written a bible study, picked up food donations to gift to a local church, sorted through some donations of clothes and had a sing song!  Ministry is a great orchestra full of diverse instruments, from a simple triangle to an exquisite cello and a kazoo thrown in too!  As I sit and observe the bustle going on around me, I see a member of staff give a lesson to a lad in his twenties on how to add up a bill as he simply cannot count. I watch my husband talk with one of the volunteers, just doing life together. I also see a family come in who are regulars in the coffee shop and have excitedly...

It’s been a tough couple of weeks. The challenges seem to be coming thick and fast and the devil has started to get a bit personal. But if you remember my word for this year is gratitude so I won’t bore you with any details! Instead let me share some of the great blessings the past few weeks have given me! Sometimes do forget, or maybe don’t appreciate the little messages God gives or those answers to prayers that we have been praying for a long while. Today however, I want to celebrate them! Not only to share with you some of the Awesome things God has done, but by remembering these blessing I am building myself up for the things that are ahead A couple of weeks ago as I was reading my daily devotional I was prompted to read Isaiah 54. When I got to verse 2 I read this. “Enlarge the place of your tent,      stretch your tent curtains wide,      do not hold back; lengthen your cords,      strengthen your stakes. ...

Just under a year ago something happened that completely changed my relationship with God and shaped the way I live out my faith. Over lent I always try to take something on that will help others rather than giving up something, and I often participate in 40 acts. This is where you are challenged to do 40 different things and make an impact in your own community (Check it out at http://www.40acts.org.uk/ ) Last year, day 1 called me to buy a journal and make notes over the 40 days of lent. I bought a journal and started…. And I haven’t stopped! I have written all sorts in my journal; prayers, sermons, notes, doodles, artwork and anything and everything that God has prompted me to do. As I started spending time pouring my heart out to the Lord on the pages of my journal I found my faith was growing, I started really looking forward to spending time with God and was glad to get up a little earlier in order to spend time with him. Recently my expression of faith has been ext...

I love music. I am one of those people who would happily have 3 different radios playing in the house so that I am surrounded by music. I also Love the way God speaks to me through music, all different types of music. Psalm 100 talks about how we can use music in order to praise God. "Shout for joy   to the   Lord , all the earth.     Worship the   Lord   with gladness;      come before him   with joyful songs.       Know that the   Lord   is God.      It is he who made us,   and we are his ;      we are his people,   the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving      and his courts   with praise;      give thanks to him and praise his name. For the   Lord   is good   and his love endures forever;      his faithfulness   continues through all genera...

I am me! This week I had a revealation. I am me! Some of you may be thinking “duh, of course you are you!”  But this week it was something that really hit home. As part of our training and development as ministers in the Salvation Army Paul and I have just spent the last week at the William Booth Training college in London. It has been an interesting and challenging week in many ways! There was some great teaching, thought provoking worship and some fellowship with people walking on the same road of ministry as me. But for me, the greatest part of the week, was in the gentle call and affirmation that God seemed to breath over me as the days went by. There were a number of points over the week that God spoke to me and said “you are you and I made you that way. Stop worrying over the way you are, if you are wrong, I will tell you!” On Monday morning as I read my devotional I was struck by these Words As I meditated on these words I penned this prayer ...