A Novel and a Reality

I’m reading a novel at the moment – The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. It is a beautiful, thought-provoking, gripping read. And it is really speaking to me. The Postmistress is set during World War 2. The main character is brave American journalist, Frankie Bard. She is desperate to get the truth about the horrors of…

Some great quotes I’ve read this week…

I’ve been doing a lot of reading this week and I thought it would be good to post some of the quotes that have made me think 🙂 1. I read these on a Christian Aid appeal email. They are stark reminders of the suffering of our Syrian brothers and sisters: ‘If you help us,…

Stepping Up 5

Ever feel like giving up? Feel like though you believe in what you are doing, it is just too hard? I feel like this most days! Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great things in my job and life, but there are also daily challenges. Things like tensions between co-workers, others not…

Family

I sometimes (OK, often) moan about not having my family close by. I was buying my niece a birthday present the other day and found myself wishing I could be more of a part of her life than I am. I often think it would be good to ‘pop in’ to see our parents or…

My Job in Pictures 2

So this is my second ‘My Job in Pictures’ post. It was hard to choose this week but here are my final three! 1. Some of the younger children enjoying our day out to Clivedon National Trust site 🙂 I had so much fun playing with them and being with them as they made ‘collections’,…

Stepping Up 4

I’ve been carrying on looking at the Pilgrim Psalms using Beth Moore’s ‘Stepping Up’ and here are this week’s thoughts… So I read Psalm 127 and 128 this week, and to be honest they initially really annoyed me. They seemed to imply that you are only blessed by God if you have children, which really…

Stepping Up 3

I wrote this a week or so ago, but have been unsure whether to post it, worrying it may be a little heavy! But I figure it may encourage someone somewhere so I’m going to be brave and post it anyway! Here goes… I have been continuing with my ‘Stepping Up’ book which I have…

Being honest but appreciative…

Have you ever been in the situation where you’ve been browsing facebook, looking at someone’s holiday snaps, or even just catching up with friends, and you’ve had that nagging feeling that maybe your life doesn’t quite match up? I think a lot of people have moments of dissatisfaction with where they are in life, and…

Cloud Atlas

I read Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell last year and it quickly became one of my favourite books for the skill with which it was written, the hugeness of all that it managed to cover, the way Mitchell managed to plunge in and out of different genres, times, places and people yet still manage to cover each…

Stepping Up Post 2

I have been on holiday this week, so had a little time to carry on with the ‘Stepping Up’ book I mentioned before, which takes a look at prayers/songs from the Biblical book, Psalms. In particular, it focuses on the ‘Psalms of Ascent’ or Pilgrimage Psalms. This week has involved a lot of travelling for…

Stepping Up 1 – Pilgrims

So I just started working through a book called ‘Stepping Up’ by Beth Moore. It’s basically a workbook looking at ‘The Psalms of Ascent’ from the Bible (‘Psalms is a collection of songs and prayers). The workbook has downloadable videos to go alongside it. Beth is great at helping people to engage with the Bible…