I’m excited to have some opportunities this Spring for speaking; it’s an experience I liken to strapping on roller skates – scary at first, but exhilarating as I take off, the wind whipping through my hair. Might you be able to join me, or share the info with others?

 

Adventures in Prayer: 29 March in Coventry

Correction – not the 31st, like I said earlier! Sorry!

One of the active members of the Woman Alive Book Club is hosting this day of us adventuring in prayer together. We’ll engage with various ways of praying, not only discussing them but putting them into practice, including:

• Lectio divina (praying with the Bible),
• practicing the presence of God,
• praying at the cross, and
• listening prayer.

Prayer becomes an adventure when God shows up – which he promises to do!

 

Beloved: Rooting Our Identity as Women of God

5-9 May, at El Palmeral near Alicante in Spain

A retreat for women, exploring our identity in Christ. What does it mean to be God’s beloved? How can we shed the false names of the “old self” that we may have adopted – worthless, controlling, fearful, worrier – and embrace the new name that God wants to bestow on us? He calls us chosen, precious, loving, gentle, wanted… but do we believe him?

In our time together we’ll be exploring the spiritual practices that will help us live as the new creation that the Apostle Paul speaks of. As we learn to forgive ourselves and others, and to hear God, we can move into freedom and release.

This retreat house in Spain is not to be missed. It’s a combination of a retreat and a holiday – warming sunshine, amazing food and conversation, a pool to lounge by… combined with God’s sweet presence as we meet together in the mornings. I’ve blogged about El Palmeral here.

Restore your Confidence: A day conference for women

14 May in at CRE Sandown in Esher

 Woman Alive and BRF will host the fourth annual women’s day at CRE, at which I’ve had the privilege of speaking previously. It’s a wonderfully encouraging day with a great roster of speakers:

Jennifer Rees Larcombe, who runs the charity Beauty From Ashes, from The House of Prayer, will explore what might rob us of our confidence in God: unanswered prayer, disappointment with ourselves, misunderstanding the character of God… and how we can restore our confidence and relationship with him.

Writer, speaker, editor and vicar’s wife Amy Boucher Pye tackles restoring our confidence in the Church. If it is the body of Christ, why does it sometimes seem to ooze with disease? How should we handle disagreements and can our wounds be healed?

Bex Lewis from the Centre for Christian Communication in a Digitial Age looks at restoring our confidence in the truths we believe. How can we live out and share the good news in a society that seems to move further and further away from Christian principles?

Catherine Butcher, writer, editor and currently heading the communications for HOPE will unpack the promise of heaven and explain how we can be heavenly ambassadors, spreading hope and giving those around us a taste of heaven.

PLUS, Ali Herbert will be our host for the day and Sue Mills returns to lead the worship times.

 

It’s free, but you need to register soon, as the 300 places were claimed about six weeks before last year’s event.