My Spiritual Journey

I've just finished reading 'Two Weeks' by Karen Kingsbury. She's a Christian fiction writer and I only discovered her when I had a gift voucher to spend at our local Christian bookshop. In the last few months I've read seven of her novels and I plan to read more.  I'm finding it really refreshing to read a novel where the characters are Christians and their love of Jesus is threaded through their stories. In so many novels, when the main characters are going through their trials and tribulations, they all try to solve their own problems in their own way. Finishing 'Two Weeks' today really made me reflect on what the main characters do when faced with their own trials and tribulations (they have enough of them!) and that's to immediately turn to prayer. It's their first response. I bet that's Karen Kingsbury's first response too. It's not often mine. My first response when faced with a problem is to consider what I need to do to fix it...

I've got a weekend of peace and quiet thanks to one of the Besties going to a wedding and leaving me the responsible adult to puppy-sit. Fortunately, Rosie Dog is being a good girl and, apart from her constant desire for a tummy scratch, I have been able to catch up on some reading.  I started this book absolutely ages ago but finished it just now. Taking so long to read it infers that it's not very good (usually I'll finish a book in a weekend if it really grips me) but that's not the case. Life just gets in the way sometimes, and other reading has been necessary to help support the husband in his essay writing and to prepare for our Home Group studies.  So, it's been really refreshing to take several hours of time where I can read what I want to read (whilst simultaneously scratching a puppy tummy!). This is my first encounter with something written by Beth Moore and I'll certainly be hunting out other books written by her. Even though filled with Bible refere...

Hope is Coming I read this book by Louise Blyth a few weeks back but it was such a rollercoaster ride that I didn't feel ready to write about it until now. It was one that I had to keep putting down (hard to read through tears) rather than not being able to put down. But that's a compliment to the emotional power of Louise's words as she tells her story of grief and gratitude. Such an amazing testimony to how God worked in her life, and is still working in her life. The husband and I were watching Songs of Praise about a month or so ago and I caught an interview between Louise and Aled Jones. I was mesmerised by her story - albeit it only a few minutes - and even Aled had tears in his eyes! I immediately got onto one of the besties who happens to be the best personal shopper (#canaanchristianministries). "You need to get me this book!" It was hand-delivered to me just a couple of days later (a far nicer service than you'll ever get from Amazon!).  It took me j...

  Theological college? Would it be for me? The husband has just started a 4-year Theological course based in Wales. He had his first week this week. It should've been a residential but was instead live lectures on Zoom - sometimes until 9.30pm. He's now shattered. He's made copious notes, got book lists coming out of his ears, three essays to write in three months, and is feeling pretty daunted. Excited but also daunted. It's exciting because it's the start of what we think is God's plan for the next stage of our lives. But daunting because so much seems over his head.  When he was looking into studying, I felt a bit left out to be honest. I didn't want him to keep on growing spiritually and leave me behind. I even thought about doing some kind of formal studying myself. But listening in to lots of the lectures this week has made me realise that it's just too full on and made me consider all that I didn't know rather than all that I did. That made me...

Our Pastor put a copy of a book through our door the other day. I say 'put' as he must've been in a bit of a rush and gave it a shove as the book clattered through the door knocking one of my childminding children's wellies over in the process! We all jumped!  It's called 'Spiritual Healthcheck' by Carl Laferton and is published by The Good Book Company. What is our Pastor trying to tell us I thought?! But, when questioned, he said he had a few copies lying around and thought we'd like one. We were recently talking about spiritual growth with him and how we could support our Home Group. So, I've decided to work through the book. It's short and very easy to read. It's made up of 16 steps to a 'thriving Christian life' so I'm attempting to complete one per day. I am failing at that - but am at least getting one done every couple of days! Each step contains some short passages of the Bible to read, some questions and thoughts, a summ...

The timing of going to church that first time was everything. It wasn't long before Mark and I made the commitment to go each Sunday - as soon as we were reassured that we didn't have the worst behaved children in the area and that, yes, they would be welcomed into the Sunday Club. Funnily enough, one of the very first people that came up to say hello figured out who I was because she recognised my son from when he was younger. She was a childminder and knew who he was from the various toddler groups that she attended alongside my son's childminder. God is so amazing as she is now one of my closest and loved friends (I'm going to need to find a way to get my other church bestie into this blog or she'll get stroppy!).  At that time, I was going through a pretty rubbish time at work. I'd started a new job possibly the year before and had inherited the most challenging class of my entire career. I worked my absolute socks off at the school and made such a differenc...