All tagged ministry

Seasons of Creativity

How is your new year going? Does it feel like a new season? It is Summer right now in Peru and we are abiding as a community - spending lots of time resting, spending time together socially, sorting through things and preparing for the new school year which starts in March here.  Having spent time resting over Christmas I feel excited and expectant about what God is going to do this year.  Right now I am in a season of preparation and deepening roots...

Why being passive is bad for you

Awaking from a dream this week I was stressed out.  I hadn’t been chased by hooded phantoms, nearly flattened by an elephant or had to pack up my whole house to move in 5 minutes time.  I wasn’t freefalling into a pot of glue. I was just having to sit in a classroom at school. 

 

And not for the reasons you might think...

Is it okay to rest when everyone else is striving?

These last few months have been a rollercoaster of storm-calm-storm-calm etc.  For some reason, I find the 'storms' emotionally easier to respond to than the calms.  The calms are what often send me over the edge, but what often feel like an inappropriate time to suddenly be overwhelmed with anxiety and panic! Over the next few weeks I plan to share some thoughts with you on engaging with rest in the midst of 'normal', 'calm' but busy life, but today I wanted to share a post I wrote back in March on leading others in the midst of crisis...

How should we respond to leaders we disagree with?

Never have I seen a nation so honoring and proud of the role of President and yet so dishonoring and undermining of the President himself as the United States.  

Recently, I saw a Facebook post by a Christian disrespecting the current President and comments which were equally disrespectful and it caused me pain and gave me much to think about, especially seeing as my first reaction was to judge them, just as they had judged the President! ...

United in Thanksgiving

It is 5pm and the last bowl has been washed up, the house looks vaguely in order and everybody has left.  Today we had a lovely Thanksgiving meal together as a community. 

 

There were over 30 adults present from different nations.  Some old friends returning for another Thanksgiving, some new friends from this year, new babies, new people, faithful friends who have been on the journey together for years...

Leaning in When I Want To Run Away Instead

I shared recently about pushing against resistance in order to see breakthrough.  I have found this to be essential when wanting to see breakthrough in relationships with others which can lead to much joy! 

Life has given me plenty of opportunities to have misunderstandings, painful relationships and disagreements with others and I'm sure you have had those too. In many of the relationships at school or university, I was able to pull away when things got hard, but marriage and living in community with others has meant that I have had to work at unity. It was really hard at first, but choosing to commit to the person and not pull away has led to joy! The feeling of joy and unity that comes when a broken relationship has been restored and brought to another level is worth it! ...  

When grief is a community affair...

I wasn’t expecting our last days in the US and our return to Peru to be so dramatic.  We had a wonderful albeit super-busy time in the UK and US spending time with so many friends and family and making new friends.  We were looking forward to coming back to Peru and beginning to process our trip! 

However, the last few days of our time in the US, I ended up in the Emergency Room in Lexington, Kentucky, with horrendous abdominal pains...