Support Group Launch

At last! The Support Group letters are in the post!

To all new readers of this page - WELCOME - and thank you for looking me up. I hope you will continue to follow progress of my ministry through this page and support me in your prayers. If you scroll down below, you'll get a flavour for where the Lord has been leading me in recent months, and if you keep returning to this page you'll be able to keep in touch with my latest news too.

Finally, after much prayer and consideration, I am launching a support group to underpin and enable my ministry. Please pray for all who receive my initial support group letter. Every prayer and every small contribution will be much valued.

Currently, I'm in a bit of a 'breathing space' between commitments, which is good and necessary. It has been good to have time to settle into the rhythm of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises (see below) and I know that incorporating this into my daily life will bless and enhance my future ministry. Please pray for me as I commit myself to this rhythm of prayer.

Please pray for me too as I prepare for the Retreat Association conference in May, where I'll be leading a workshop entitled 'Imaginative Contemplation as a Pathway to Healing'.

Thank you to you all, for your love and support in so many ways. God bless you.

Down Time

The recent Quiet Day - He Chose The Nails - went very well and I thank you all for your prayer upholding. People seemed to be very blessed and used phrases like 'amazing' and 'so moving as to be beyond words'. I just thank the Lord for the Holy Spirit's enabling. The John Young Foundation have asked me to lead a similar day in the autumn.

So now I have arrived at some intentional down time in my diary. This is some much needed quiet space for me after the fairly intense preparation and leading of the last few weeks and months. I plan to begin this break by spending time at Morley Retreat House.

After that, it will be time to set in motion the launch of a Support Group for this ministry.

So, please pray for rest & renewal and for wisdom in how to approach the Support Group launch. Please also pray for my health, which is below par at the moment.

Thank you, dear friends - may you enjoy a richly blessed Easter season.

He Chose The Nails

Thank you for your ongoing prayers. The 'Godly Daydreaming' retreat went well - it was a huge privilege to spend a weekend alongside 22 very godly young women from TABS, in Penarth. I was hugely blessed by their fellowship and found them quite inspirational to journey with. This is the paradox of retreat work ... in giving, I receive. Thank you, TABS.

So, time to move on to the next project ... an upcoming Quiet Day at Shallowford, entitled 'He Chose The Nails'. Please pray for me as I immerse myself in the cross again in preparation for this day. There has been an unprecedented interest in the day, and I will be offering another one in the autumn.

Please pray for wisdom and discernment as I pray over an invitation from the Retreat Association to be a facilitator for 'Soul Space' at their conference in May. And give thanks that Peter Millward, a very gifted artist, has offered me use of his images to make large visuals for use in my meditative retreat work.

We are many members, but one body ... and it is in working together that the Kingdom grows!

Ignatian Spiritual Exercises

I committed myself today to begin the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, as a retreat in daily life. I'll be starting them after Easter and this will be a nine month programme of daily prayer exercises and a weekly meeting with Jane, who'll be acting as my conductor. This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time, and the time now feels right to undertake this. I hope that the exercises will help me to live from a better rhythm of prayer, to grow closer to Christ, and be foundational for future retreat leading. I'm told that the exercises can be profoundly life-changing. Watch this space ...

Preparation of the Godly Daydreaming retreat for Penarth Baptists is on schedule. Please pray for continued inspiration and uninterrupted preparation time.

Thank you.

On to the next project ...

Thank you for your prayers, folks.

It was a privilege to be on the Programme Planning Panel for Llangasty and it was a joy to spend time again in that peaceful retreat house. I will be leading a retreat for them in 2009.

Thank you for your prayer upholding throughout last weekend. The Inner Healing Course was a powerful experience, possibly even life-changing. I learnt a great deal and was deeply blessed by the prayer ministry times. All that I experienced will be very valuable in the pastoral ministry that goes hand in hand with retreat work.

And so, onto the next challenge ... In the next three weeks I am concentrating on praying and preparing for the retreat that I'll be leading for Penarth Baptist Church. Please pray that I will have discernment, vision and fresh inspiration. Pray too for undisturbed preparation time.

Thank you.

An Inspiring Time

Having helped to lead the Green Pastures Christmas Encounter retreat, it has been good to take a few days relaxing with friends at the turn of the year. I now face the coming year refreshed and inspired. The leading of Advent and Christmas retreats has been a real catalyst for a flow of new writing and I hope to soon have a manuscript for a Christmas book to offer to a publisher. The Christmas Encounter was very moving and Green Pastures have invited me back to lead another retreat for them in October.

I have felt very affirmed in my ministry in recent months and step into 2008 in a very positive frame of mind. My New Year's resolution is to use the gifts I have been given to attempt to become the best retreat leader and Christian writer that I possibly can be. One thing that will be very enabling in this task is the successful set-up of a Support Group for my ministry. Please pray for us as we prepare to launch this very soon.

I also have lots of other things on the go in the next two months, so please pray that I would achieve the right balance in prioritising everything. I am off down to Llangasty next Monday to join their programme advisory group in planning future retreats. Please pray for me specifically too as I attend an Inner Healing Training on Jan 11-13.

Unfortunately my application for an author grant was not successful, but I thank you for your prayers.

Thank you all for your faithful prayer support throughout 2007: it is crucial to all that I do. May God bless you with His peace and guide you in the paths He has for you in the coming year.

Thank You

Thank you for your prayers, dear friends. I could not do what I do without you - you are an important part of my ministry. The 'Prepare to Welcome Him' retreat was a profound experience. We were held, healed, blessed - as we journeyed together from the first whisper of Gabriel's wings to the divine fanfare of the baby's first cry. Time suspended itself as we made the journey and there was a real sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit with us.

It was a powerful retreat - challenging for some, healing for others, a blessing for all. The whole experience has confirmed in me that this ministry IS where God calls me and, with Mary, I find myself saying, once more, "Tell God, I say 'Yes'!"

Thank you for your so very important prayers.

Please pray for me now, as I give some time to family and friends in the run up to Christmas, and at the same time prepare for my part in helping to lead the Christmas Encounter at Green Pastures.

May God bless you all as you too meet with the 'Saviour in the straw' this Christmas.