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. 

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A truly accessible, dyslexic-friendly book

I’ve always been a prolific reader, and I’ve never really considered how hard it must be for those for whom immersing themselves in a book doesn’t come easily.

My new book is now out there in the world and I love the way that the publishing team have designed it and birthed something beautiful and accessible. I’m humbled to be the recipient of their skills. From the start, I have wanted the book to be accessible to anyone who might be helped by it. What I hadn’t considered though is the 10% of the population who, because of dyslexia, find reading extremely difficult.

So I’m delighted to share with you the brilliant news that my publisher, Sarah Grace, is an expert in this field and now specialises, with Malcom Down, in producing dyslexic-friendly books. Sarah has been a pioneer in this field and you can read her incredible journey with God in last month’s Woman Alive.

I count it a privilege that Healing Life’s Wounds will be a truly accessible book. The book’s about how to be set free from all that inhibits us from being our best self, so I rejoice that engaging with it will not be a barrier to dyslexics.  When I shared it with a dyslexic adult this week, I was blown away by her reaction: it was a real ‘wow moment’ for her. Deeply moved and excited, she was in awe of being able, for the first time ever, to easily read the words!

God is good. By a wonderful Godly serendipity, he led me to write the book, led Sarah to develop new ways of enabling dyslexics to read, and led me to be publishing with her publishing house.

Healing Life’s Wounds; Beyond Feeling Broken 

a truly accessible, dyslexic friendly book

available here.

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Pentecost gift and blessing

 

“Pat has a gift for saying profound things very simply.

Oh, how our church needs that gift!”

a very humbling endorsement of "Healing Life's Wounds" from Jan McFarlane, Dean of Lichfield Cathedral

Saying things simply.  Jesus was good at that, but his words aren’t always easy to live out. His teachings about finding emotional healing couldn’t be simpler:

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

Forgive often.  Let go of your burdens.  Be thankful.

Be still.  Rest.  Pray.

But how? How to begin to live those things out can feel a real challenge when you’re struggling. The words of Jesus can feel like reprimands rather than invitations.

This Pentecost, it’s my privilege to offer you a solution. The Holy Spirit anointing on the very first Pentecost propelled the early disciples to go out and share the good news with people in a language they could understand.

“Healing Life’s Wounds; Beyond Feeling Broken” 

aims to do just that. 

Combining modern day medical and psychological insights with those teachings of Jesus, the book is a practical step-by-step guide to help you find healing and freedom from all the troubling inner stuff you never speak of, written by someone who has lived it out and helped others to do the same.

Written in a simple style, it’s appropriate for those who know a bit about Jesus and those who haven’t yet discovered the reality of his presence with them.

It’s selling fast. It’s potentially life-changing. 

And it’s available here.

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Emotions are OK

 

I’m feeling very emotional this morning, as I sit here with my newly released book in my hand. Emotional in a good way. Wonder, gratitude and a quite beautiful amazement are surging (tearfully) through me.

Though I never intended it to be such, “Healing Life’s Wounds” is in some ways a testimony to how God broke through into my life and led me through some dark and difficult times to a place of peace and healing. Not that this is a memoir - it’s not. It’s very much a book to help the reader. But elements of my story are woven through it. Because it’s only when we’ve found a way through our own vulnerable times that we can help others through theirs.

As Brené Brown writes …

When we have the courage to walk into our own story and own it, we get to write the ending.

So perhaps it’s not surprising that I feel emotional as this book becomes available. After all, that’s what “Healing Life’s Wounds” is all about; emotions, and how to process them in a healthy way.

If you know anyone who’s struggling, why not make them a gift of it? It’s perfect for chaplains, pastors, spiritual directors, and all who come alongside others compassionately.

Join me in releasing it to the people whom God wants to help, so they can find the courage to walk into the difficult bits of their own story and write a new ending.

You can buy it here.

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Finding a way through

 

When you're stuck in a deep, dark place the mind can play tricks on you and make you think there's no way out.

My new book 

Healing Life's Wounds; Beyond Feeling Broken 

is designed to help you.

Don't just take my word for it - this is what a Christian Life Coach kindly said, after reading it:

This simple book is full of profound truths and practical exercises that are not necessarily simple to do but are the root to freedom and release. Reading the book feels like being held in a warm embrace by a sensitive and empathic friend who is prepared to sit with you amongst the painful emotions you are experiencing and lead you deeper into the loving and safe arms of Jesus. The exercises are clear and helpful without being prescriptive and build chapter by chapter to help the reader face their wounds without fear. Pat achieves a wonderful balance of encouraging the responsibility each of us needs to take to do our own work, with the need to trust and rely on Jesus for the strength and love to do this work. A really helpful, beautiful and practical book for anyone wanting to move into more freedom and lightness.

Catriona Futter, Equip For Life Coaching.

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                             I'd love help you find a way through.

                         Learn more about it and purchase it here.

                             Find a new freedom.

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It's here - the new book!

Healing Life's Wounds - Beyond Feeling Broken.

Available for pre-order now!

This is the book that I wish I could have read thirty years ago, when I was in a deeply unhappy place and struggling to see a way through. I was on a long, broken and difficult road through depression and breakdown.

Through a combination of pursuing everything I could find about healing, and being unexpectedly ‘found’ by a God I’d only loosely believed in, I slowly emerged from the crippling darkness.

I healed my depression, walked away from my career, and began to lead Christian healing retreats. And now, twenty years later, this is the book that distils the essence of all I have learned. 

It’s the book I wish I could have read half a lifetime ago.

Purchase your copy here!

Orders will be despatched from June 14th

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Anyone for a quiz?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been partial to a quiz. 

Here’s a question for you: 

What have the following got in common - 

a bird bath - a bunch of carnations - a little red tractor - a very high mountain - a broken vase - 

a blind beggar - an Olympic runner - a rucksack full of stones - a kitchen drawer - a canal boat

a Swedish arrow - a flight of geese - a barbecue pit - a city centre map - a slate chalkboard … 

and the Bible! 

                                                      The answer: 

Just as Jesus used familiar objects to illustrate his teachings, 

these are all things you’ll find in my new book,

Healing Life’s Wounds. 

It’s a book full of healing insights, grounded in everyday life. 

It's published on June 14th and available for pre-order soon.

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My new book - it's nearly here!

 

Here it is!  My new book!

I’m grateful to the skills of the publishing team who have turned my words into a beautiful, attractive book. I love the imagery in the cover design, capturing the ideas of light shining through, bringing hope in the darkness, and the symbolism of beautiful love enabling us to become radiant, living into the fullness of life that Jesus desires for us. These concepts are at the heart of the book. New life is possible, no matter how bleak things feel right now.

Author, retreat leader and spiritual director, Amy Boucher Pye, says this of the book:

 

Can I really find relief from this pain? Yes, says Pat Marsh resoundingly. She leads us through a gentle but deep exploration of what lies beneath the anguish as she points us to the One who sets us free. She’s a trustworthy guide who understands what we’re feeling, having trodden the road of suffering before finding freedom and release in God. I’ll recommend this book in the years to come.

New life is possible, no matter how bleak things feel right now.

It would be the greatest privilege to let me guide you to that place through this book.

It's coming soon - out on June 14th!

It will be available from 

my website, Christian bookshops and all the usual online Christian booksellers.

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Beyond Feeling Broken

 

It’s easy to become disillusioned, I find, with social media. How many people do you know who post truthful images of themselves online when their life is at its unimaginable worst?  In that context, the snapshots we see of others aren’t a complete picture of real life are they.

Because all of us are wounded.  You.  Me.  The lady at the checkout.  The stranger at the bus stop.  The person who just served you at the coffee shop.  We all gather wounds along life’s way.  And our remarkable brains and bodies retain the memories of all we have experienced. Everything. Both joyous and painful. 

 

None of us have had a perfect past (whatever we think that might look like). We cannot photoshop out the experiences that have wounded us, or the behaviours we wish we had never adopted. And our wounds have a disarming habit of impacting us long after we gathered them.  But that doesn’t mean that our wounds have to define us.

And that’s the heart and soul of my new forthcoming book, 

Healing Life’s Wounds: Beyond Feeling Broken. 

It’s possible to heal, move on and live into fullness of life.  Resurrection is not just for Easter; it’s for today, now, whoever you are and whatever cross you are privately carrying.

 

The book’s out on June 14th.

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How are you?

 

How are you today?

How are you deep down in your soul, beneath the face you show to the world? What’s the honest truth of how you feel when you stop for long enough to honestly consider the question?

How are you really?

It can be a tough question. And I make no apologies for asking it. Emotional wounds are part and parcel of life. We all have them. No one escapes them. They stir weird feelings in us and impact the way that we behave. And, unaddressed, they can prevent us from living at our happiest and best.

As I say in my upcoming book …

Our inner world is not always peaceful. There are times when difficult thoughts rumble around in there and refuse to be silenced. Worries about the future. Regrets about the past. Fears for our wellbeing. Grief for our losses. The pain of our wounds. Anger about the way we have been treated. Deep and complex hurts about our life situation.

At any given time, most of us can probably tick one of those boxes. And, when we can tick several at the same time, things can quickly spiral to a point of feeling overwhelming. And we feel that overload not just in our mind but also in weird and uncomfortable sensations in our body.

Understanding what’s happening in our body and gently untangling the fears, hurts and disappointments behind the sensations can begin to lead you to back to a state of peace and wellbeing.

My new book will lead you gently through that process:

Healing Life’s Wounds; Beyond Feeling Broken

is published on June 14th 2025

by Sarah Grace Publishing

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The Junk Drawer

 

Jesus was, I think you’ll agree, a master story-teller.  He always used examples that people could relate to; everyday items like coins, seeds and bread.  My new book, Healing Life’s Wounds, has some stories about familiar items.

 

Here’s an extract:

 

Every house has one. Mine is in the kitchen. The junk drawer. That place where you throw all the things that you are sure you’ll need one day but don’t quite know what to do with right now. That old penknife your father gave you. The giveaway book of matches with the hotel logo. Assorted pens, most of which don’t work. A bunch of keys you have long since forgotten about. The odd receipt that felt important at the time. Tape, magnets, safety pins, rubber bands. The junk drawer is home to a whole cacophony of objects that accumulate around family life. It’s the drawer where we throw things that we don’t have the time or inclination to deal with immediately. 

 

What’s this doing in a book about healing?  The answer is that we often do the same with our emotions. Every time we suppress our feelings we metaphorically stuff them in the junk drawer of our cells. We don’t realise we are doing it, but that is what happens. They get held in our body and cause all sorts of pain later.

 

One on the many things Healing Life’s Wounds: Beyond Feeling Broken will do is guide you in how to empty out that emotional junk drawer, helping you to feel lighter and freer.

It's coming soon   ...  it will be released on June 14th.

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Healing From Pain

 

Often the most radical healing can emerge from the deepest pain.  The story of the Risen Christ models that.  But often when we’re in the midst of deep pain it can be hard to believe in the possibility of emerging from what can feel like a dark and lonely place.

 

But emergence is possible once you take responsibility for working towards healing. 

 

Walking alongside some who has made that journey for themself can help.  And that’s what Healing Life’s Wounds is: a book to hold your hand as you find your way through.  Based in part on my own story, and including insights gleaned from twenty years of leading healing retreats, the book will encourage you to find a way to break free of the impact that past pain has on you.

 

New life is possible!  Your wounds don’t have to define you.

Healing Life's Wounds: Beyond Feeling Broken

is published on June 14th.

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Restful silence

 

I wonder how noisy your world has been lately? Both the external world and the noises in your head? For most of us, most of the time, the answer can be ‘loud’. Silence, however we find it, is essential for our brain health.

 And that can include visual silence too, by which I mean respite from the constant barrage of multiple images that bombard us from our screens. Never before has there been an era in which so much information was coming at us so thick and so fast. And it’s exhausting. Our brains were never meant to process so much non-stop data. 

Restful silence is essential to our wellbeing.

In my new book, Healing Life’s Wounds, I speak about the power of the pause. In the ubiquitous digital world we now inhabit, it has become the norm to be instantly connected and always available. And whilst that has many good points, as a general rule it’s not good for our health. There is a societal, and for many of us a personal, need to slow down. To intentionally switch off, slow down and let our souls catch up. Silence in nature can be especially healing.

So, how are you doing today? Do you need to take a pause? To walk away from your screens, and smell the roses? Or simply listen to the calming beauty of birdsong?

 Go on … take time to be still and quiet …. your health will thank you for it.

…. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. 

 Healing Life’s Wounds; Beyond Feeling Broken

will be published in June, by Sarah Grace Publishing.

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Special Easter Offer

 

Looking for a creative resource to bless your Easter?  

                                                                                    Look no further!

The Gift of a Cross 

is a collection of poetry based on the Gospel stories of Holy Week.

Through 70 poems, the book mirrors the journey of Jesus from Palm Sunday to the empty tomb, and beyond; inviting you to put yourself in the heart of the story, as if you were there.

The book is on offer now at the special price of 

                            £5 inc. postage. 

 You can order it here: http://patmarsh.weebly.com

I just have a few copies left ... 

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