As the first hints of winter nip at our toes here in the UK and summer beings to blossom in New Zealand, it's hard to believe that twelve months ago I was preparing to fly out to Vaughan Park. It has been a very special sabbatical year. It has been good to take space from retreat leading in order to reflect and study, to learn from others and to develop new materials. It has also been good to have time and freedom to develop the contemplative rhythms of living that I find life-giving and nourishing. I am very pleased to have done it and offer my prayerful thanks to those who have continued to financially support me through this time. Please give thanks and pray for those who continue to support me in today's difficult financial climate.
My diary for 2011 is now full and I am very much looking forward to resuming retreat leading, the absence of which this year has confirmed that this ministry is where my heart lies. The Lord has also led me deeper into a calling to the healing ministry, and I look forward to seeing where the future takes me. Please pray that I will continue to have discernment in this area.
Give thanks that I have had some success recently in finding a publisher who is interested in re-printing and re-launching Whispers of Love, my first book, which continues to sell amazingly well, seven years after its first publication. My two new titles are under consideration by a mainstream publisher and I hope that a decision will soon be made on these. Please pray that these will get into print in 2011.
And I am continuing to develop materials for imaginative contemplation, based primarily on the healing scriptures. I hope that, in time, there will also be an accompanying CD and an accompanying book which will explore how such meditations can leading to healing encounters and how we can facilitate more of these. This is work that has grown directly out of my Vaughan Park scholarship time. Give thanks for the Vaughan Park Scholarship Programme and pray that God will continue to grow the Kingdom through it.
Finally, my first grandchild was born two weeks ago - a beautiful little boy! Give thanks. Experiencing the joy of new life entering my own family circle reminds me that Jesus is constantly ready and waiting to bless us with newness and healing at every stage of our life's journey. May we all be open to that, and may God bless us all as we prepare to celebrate the birth of another child whose coming was the greatest gift of all time.
My prayer is that you will all enjoy a blessed, peaceful and joyous Christmas, full of the presence of Jesus.
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