Letting go ... sabbatical time

The joy on the toddler’s face lit me up. Seeing him scattering a pile of fallen leaves awakened happy memories of my own childhood; remembrances of the annual magic of brightly coloured leaves carpeting a woodland floor. 

It’s that time of year again. Autumn. For the trees, a necessary season of letting go, as they hunker down to rest through the winter and prepare themselves for the new growth that will stir in the spring.  

We all need seasons of rest and renewal, and I am entering such a season. After an incredibly demanding few years, I am about to take a sabbatical. In a time of powerful prayer ministry at the British Christian Writers conference, the prophetic message was clear: ‘Lay it all down for a season. Stop, and rest in Me’. So I’m embarking on a season of hunkering down, and trusting God with all my ongoing projects; a time to let go and enter deep rest, ready for whatever new ministry may subsequently stir.  

I don’t find it easy to lay down the various ministry projects I am engaged in, and it’s particularly challenging whilst my new book is still in its launch phase.  But the call to do so for a while seems clear. Time to let go. And trust God.

‘Letting go’, when the time is right, is part of nature.  We all need to do it, and not just through domestic decluttering. 

Learning to let go is crucially important in the context of our inner healing. And we’re not always good at it.  We have a tendency to cling onto all manner of hurts and feelings long after they have served their useful purpose, long after it would have been healthy to let go and move on. 

Which is why there’s a whole chapter in Healing Life’s Wounds about the importance and healing potential of letting go.

Is there anything you might need to let go of?  Might it be time for you to do so? 

If you haven’t read the book yet you can pick up a copy here.

Meanwhile, I’m off to do my own letting go  ...   I might just kick up a few autumn leaves along the way.
.

The model for wholeness

 

Jesus both taught and modelled a way to live. Sometimes his parables were confusing but he gave profoundly good advice about how to live healthily, free of deep inner pain. And, when we break it down, his instructions are so very simple:

Don’t worry.   Don’t be afraid.   Don’t be angry.   Forgive often.  

Let go of your burdens.   Be thankful.  Be still.   Rest.   Pray.

Some of these commands can feel like reprimands when we’re already struggling, but actually they are invitations - invitations to wholeness. 

But how do we actually live them out when just to get through the day feels more than enough?

Taking these simple teachings as a model, my new book, Healing Life’s Wounds; Beyond Feeling Broken, explores why our minds and bodies feel as they do and looks at some very practical actions to help ease the uncomfortable sensations and overcome any mental turmoil.

Jan McFarlane, Dean of Lichfield Cathedral, writes:

Healing Life’s Wounds is an excellent book. Pat writes from lived experience and she speaks candidly, yet gently, with a deep longing for us to walk with her on the path to healing and peace.

Pat has a gift for saying profound things simply.

Oh, how our church needs that gift!

Do get a copy: I’d love to help you find healing.     It’s available on my website

.

Finding safe space to reflect

 

How to untangle the chaos of our hidden pain?  

Last week, on a Healing Life’s Wounds retreat in the safe space of Penhurst Retreat Centre, a group of weary and wounded people stepped aside from their daily lives to explore that question.  

With courage and honesty, vulnerabilities were prayed into and burdens laid down.  In the sharing of our stories, bonds were formed, insights were given, tears released and hearts healed a little more.

God who heals in many different ways broke through into each individual’s uniqueness. Heavy weights put down. An echo of dreams in the night. Letters courageously written. A prayer shawl touched in faith. A cross looking down on us all. Scriptures and music. Hearts cradled in love. Road signs, dragonflies and shattered pots. Strolling with Jesus. Sharing bread and wine. In all these ways and more, into the silence beneath our storms, God lovingly spoke.

Stepping aside from daily life into the shared and safe intimacy of a prayerful space enabled all this to happen and each person left feeling lighter than when they arrived, having taken a few steps further down the road to healing and knowing that brokenness is never the end of the story.

This retreat will be offered again at Penhurst in August 2026.  And the book, Healing Life’s Wounds, is available from their bookstall, this website, and all the usual places where you buy Christian books.

.

Breaking out of the spiral

Sometimes I think we all have something of the hamster in our genes.  

Because we all do it, don’t we?  Something challenging happens that sets off a reactive train of thought and before we know it that thought is looping round on repeat in our mind like a hamster wizzing round on his wheel.  And of course, the more it loops, the more entrenched it gets and the harder it is to let it go.

We all do it.  This is one of those inner narratives that I write about in my new book.  I was reminded of this ‘hamster tendency’ this week when I received some encouraging feedback from a reader who has endured long-term mental health issues.  Here’s a short extract:

Your book is absolutely brilliant in every way. … … For me, as a person with recurrent depressive disorder (which of course keeps coming back at me when I thought I was done with it) it promises perhaps a way of getting out of the spiral.

 Getting out of the spiral  ...

Breaking out of the spiral (that we often don’t realise we are spinning in) can lead to a significant breakthrough in finding healing from our emotional wounds and struggles. Healing Life’s Wounds contains a whole chapter on recognising and learning how to break free from our inner story. As well as lots of other helpful healing insights!

How about you?  What troubling narrative is looping round in your head?  

Repeating the inner story only perpetuates the pain.  Would you like to be free of it and feel happier, lighter, more at peace?

The book’s available here.

.

Not just for those in crisis …

 

Life’s busy, isn’t it.  And it’s noisy.  And it seems to get faster with each passing year. 

And in the midst of all this, as we keep on keeping on with whatever life demands of us, we so often give precious little time to our own mental health - until a crisis hits, and we are forced to.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.  

Caring for our emotional health is one of the very best things we can do for ourselves, and for those around us.  Happy, contented people enable others to be more at peace too.  Being emotionally content has a ripple effect on those we engage with in our small corner of the world.  It’s infectious.

Why wait until you’re struggling?   If even one small issue is niggling away in your mind and robbing you of the peace you deserve to have, why not think about exploring your unsettling feelings with a little help from my new book; Healing Life’s Wounds.

“Beautifully written, easy to read, and full of helpful insights”

was one recent comment. 

For the sixth week running, it’s high in the Amazon Bestseller lists for Christian Spirituality (4th) and Christian Counselling (6th), which is a sign of how many people are already discovering and recommending it.  

Why not join in with this momentum and explore your emotional healing? 

The best time to start to care for yourself is always today. 

Why not do it now?  

Healing Life’s Wounds

Available from all the usual places where you buy your Christian books.

…. and here …. from the link on the right!

.

Vicki Cottingham reviews my new book

I am indebted to Vicki Cottingham - author, blogger, speaker and fellow retreat leader - for kindly writing this review of my new book.

Here it is …

Pat Marsh’s book, Healing Life’s Wounds, has grown out of her years of leading healing retreats, and also her personal healing journey. It is a must-read for anyone who is ready to go on their own healing journey and is looking for practical tools to help them with their inner healing. The ‘Pause Points’ within the book provide the reader with a valuable resource which, if implemented, will be of continuing help throughout life.

The book’s content combines Pat’s personal experiences, where she writes openly about her own journey of healing, with the knowledge and understanding she has gained through researching the mind, body, emotions and healing. Pat looks at dealing with strong difficult emotions, such as fear, grief and anger.

She explains that forgiveness is a critical part of each of our journeys towards healing, and I found chapter 9 which focused on forgiveness really helpful and practical. Pat does not minimise whatever the cause for forgiveness may be, and she makes it clear that rarely can forgiveness be given immediately and that it is often a process.

I appreciated the examples she used throughout her book to illustrate her points as they helped me to understand what she really wanted the reader to grasp. Such as the broken vase, (a family heirloom) which she wrote about in chapter 3.

Throughout Pat’s book are ‘Pause Points’, and in Pat’s own words:

“they are important in helping you learn to connect with yourself in moments of stillness, in helping you to reflect, and in guiding you, as you progress through them, to a deeper understanding of how to work towards freedom from your debilitating emotions.”

 The message that we get from Pat and her ‘Pause Points’ is that there is power in the pause, and we would benefit in implementing this small, but significant exercise in our own lives.

“Our stories include our failures and our losses, our wounds and our scars, and all those things we wish had not been part of our experience. For each one of us, those things will be different. But, make no mistake about it, we are all wounded in some way. It happens to us all. Life is like that. But that doesn’t mean that those wounds need to dominate our lives. If we are open to the possibility, there are ways to find healing of our inner wounds, and with that healing we can then begin to live a richer, fuller, more content and fruitful life.”

Pat’s book is practical, encouraging and filled with hope. If you are open as you read it, and put into practice her suggestions, it could be of help to you on your journey of healing.

.........................................................

Vicki has a multi-faceted ministry that blesses many people.   Why not check her out on her website.

World Wellbeing Week

Apparently this week is World Wellbeing Week. I wonder what comes to mind when you read that? Dusting off the walking boots maybe, heading out for a bike ride perhaps, or finally returning to that gym you signed up for way back in January? Or perhaps some nice relaxation is more your thing?

 All of those are good and healthy pursuits - and, go for it if you feel so inclined - but what about your inner world? What about the niggling emotions you keep trying to ignore? The hurts that still fester and the old wounds that still keep surfacing, still affect your behaviour?

 We all have a tendency to try to power on regardless when our inner world isn’t feeling too good. It can seem selfish, and a bit scary too, to set aside time to stop and really face those feelings. Who knows what can of worms we might open up.

 But it’s not selfish. It really isn’t. In fact it might just be the very best thing you can do for your wellbeing. A mind at peace can find a way through all sorts of external pressures. As I quote in my book, a wise friend of mine says, 

 

‘As long as I’m alright on the inside,

 everything’s alright on the outside,

even when it isn’t.”

 

If you want to begin to feel ‘alright on the inside’, this book’s for you -

 

 

World Wellbeing Week is a great time to make yourself a gift of it.

It's available here, or from all your favourite online retailers. 

.