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| Holy Christmas crackers |
Happy Christmas season friends and family! I know it has been ages since my last update. Sometimes, when I'm busy making decisions, I feel a certain paralysis. What do you say when you're not sure what the outcome will be? Only what you know, I suppose. But I'm waxing philosophical. Basically, I've made it to five years in the UK! That's a milestone, a landmark, a natural time to be thinking about what's next. And I don't have all the answers yet. So, I'll tell you what I know :).
2013 has been a year of change. I've been working through Beth Moore's 'Breaking Free.' This past week one of her questions had to do with loss. Have you experienced a time where you seemed to be dealing with one loss after another? I read the question, laughed out loud and put the book down for a few days. A new pastor, a return to singleness, the loss of two dear friends, countless friends moving away, relearning how to work as a team, changes in the children's ministry...a lot of learning how to grieve. Not just death, but change. And learning to take risks again and not be afraid to fail. Maybe even learning new definitions of success and failure.
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| My Old Housemate Jenny's Wedding |
I'm am so blessed by my friends and family. Thank you for supporting me for five years! I am overwhelmed by your support, your prayers, your kind thoughts, your encouragement, your perseverance. Through your kindness, I was able to take some time to visit The Haven in Portugal and spend some time reflecting, praying, and leaving behind the weight of some pain. Our former teammates, the McElroys, came and helped us to process some of the grief from the loss of Stephen and Mandy and the pastoral change. God provided almost all the funds that I needed for the residency application. Blessed.
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| Portuguese Point of View |
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| The McElroys :) |
God has gifted us with some amazing University students. They had planned on coming back from their summer break early to be on mission to their city. Mission Sheffield. Then Steve died, so we didn't know what to do. But the students said they wanted to come back and do it in his honour. So we did a week with them, blessing the city. Praying for people we met. Praying for 5 people to start the journey of a relationship with Jesus. They are part of Steve's legacy, and through them we have seen several students join our church, including a large contingency of Chinese and Singaporean students. Thus we sang some karaoke at our student Christmas party.
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| Student Christmas Karaoke |
Change doesn't mean that you've failed. This autumn we've relaunched our LifeGroups. We moved from an age-based to a regional approach and included the Uni students. And we're doing monthly training. We have four strong LifeGroups as a result that are growing in God, in community, and in number. I'm very blessed to lead with three solid guys. Last week we shared answers to prayers that we've prayed as a group. One girl had her Uni tuition paid for by a distant relative (we prayed for £2000 to show up from thin air), another got a permanent job, one guy got provision for his non-profit work, and another guy is finding it easier to talk about his faith with his flatmates.
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| LifeGroup Walk in the Peaks |
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| Good Friends |
God wants to show up and bring His refreshing when you need it. Our annual weekend away, Re:fresh, was truly refreshing this year. Izzy, a former member of my kid's team, her husband Ben and two of their youth came out to help with the kids. The youth girls who came were such quality girls, with a really mature faith. God is moving in the next generation in deep ways. And many were touched by the worship and encouraging words. We got to get away this year at Smallwood Manor, and it was a blessing to get out of the city. We needed Him to bring some restoration.
God is in the business of fresh starts. I know I've told you before about a girl I was discipling who came out of an alternative lifestyle. God has led her this year to a rehabilitation centre where she can learn to be free of other problems that keep her from freedom and abundance, eating problems, addiction problems, self-harm. I didn't tell her she should do it; God gave her the gentle nudge to turn her life around. I'm excited to see what comes from this sacrifice of a year of her life. Please be praying for her with me.
Change doesn't mean that you've failed. Does that sound familiar? We've also made some changes to the children's programme recently. We're moving to morning services, which is really exciting! We're expecting more families will visit. The focus on kids this year has made me look really closely at what we've been doing and realise that things need to change. I've asked for feedback where I used to be afraid to receive it. I've cried because change is hard sometimes, and it can feel like failure. We're having the kids in Antioch Kids for all of the Gathering, which means 45 minutes of extra time to shape the kids. We launch 19 January; will you pray with us?
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| Great Kids |
It's okay to not know what's next. I feel like this next season has been an invitation from God to explore some of my dreams. To see what else I'm passionate about besides kids. So I'm trying out some new things, like figuring out what my dreams are, small or big. Maybe some counselling or helping families in a holistic manner. For now, I'm in Sheffield working with the church and exploring. I got registered here as a speech therapist. I'm living a year at a time I guess. This year in Sheffield...thank you for continuing to join with me on the journey.
What has God been teaching you this year? I would love to hear. I believe there's great power in stories. I'll leave you with a picture from our Carol Service this past Sunday. A record 144 people, 25 of them kids. They did a great job singing 'Away in a Manger' and providing comic relief via nativity photos.
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| Candles and Carols |
For now I'll leaving you with prayers for a Happy Christmas. I'm thankful for YOU!
