God looks on us with love. Join me for a mini-retreat (for 10 minutes) in receiving God’s loving gaze, along with imagining yourself in the story of Jesus seeing the widow of Nain during the funeral procession of her only son from Luke’s gospel.
Filmed at Upper Jenny’s at Lee Abbey, Lee Bay, Devon, England.
You may wish to engage with this longer prayer practice on a day of retreat and refreshment. Feel free to pause the video and engage with God where he takes you.
Join me in a prayer of imagining yourself in a gospel story, that of the two disciples walking away from Jerusalem on the road to Emmaus on the day of the resurrection. Their faces are downcast as they don’t understand what has happened, and then Jesus appears to them on the road, but they are kept from knowing it is him.
You may wish to engage with this longer prayer practice on a day of retreat and refreshment. Feel free to pause the video and engage with God where he takes you.
Join me in the woods near to Penhurst Retreat Centre (near Battle in East Sussex, England) to ponder and pray through some of the words of Thérèse of Lisieux, known as the little flower. As part of this, we’ll engage in a prayer asking God for emotional healing, based on Thérèse’s thoughts.
She saw the beauty of the ordinary flowers – the daisies and lilies as much as the roses. After all, what would be the glories of springtime if we only had roses? So too, how lovely is the garden of souls, made in the image of God with so much creativity and diversity.
Join me before Iona Abbey as the sun rises as we ask Jesus the Light to clarify any areas of wrongdoing we are holding. God will always release us and welcome us to experience freedom and release.
Join me in pondering the God of abundance in the Ten Acre Gill near to Penhurst Retreat Centre. (A ‘gill’ is a wooded ravine.) What resources might he have for you that he’s inviting you to notice and pick? How is he providing for you in unexpected and delightful ways?
I also share a simple but tasty recipe for wild garlic pesto.
Join me on retreat! My list of dates for 2024 and some of 2025 is available on my speaking page.
Join me in practicing the presence of God on the beautiful shores of the island of Iona, in the inner Hebrides in Scotland. God loves when we welcome his presence in our lives – he’s always there with us!
In the video I share this gorgeous Celtic prayer, as collected in the Carmina Gadelica:
Come I this day to the Father, Come I this day to the Son, Come I this day to the Holy Spirit powerful: I come this day with God, I come this day with Christ, I come this day with the Spirit of kindly balm.
God, and Spirit, and Jesus, From the crown of my head To the soles of my feet; Come I with my reputation, Come I with my testimony, Come I to Thee, Jesu – Jesu, shelter me.
Jesus knows when we’re weary. He bids us to come and rest with him; his yoke is easy and his burden is light.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5SfFQzC1W6
Join me at sunrise a few days after Easter in front of Iona Abbey in the Inner Hebrides in Scotland as we soak in these loving words of the Risen Jesus.
I loved this island so much I’m planning on leading another pilgrimage/retreat next year, Lord willing, from 31 March to 5 April. Mark your calendars!
I welcome you to join me and my husband, Nicholas Pye, celebrating the joy of Easter through a reading from John’s gospel. It details what happened that first Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead. Filmed on location at the Garden Tomb, Jerusalem, January 2023.
You might also enjoy reading about the life-changing story of Charles Simeon one Easter morning in today’s Our Daily Bread.
As we move through the events of Holy Week, I invite you to enter into the “Gethsemane moment” in John’s gospel, from John 12. Some Greeks – simply meaning those who were not Jewish – appeared before several of the disciples and asked if they could see Jesus. This to Jesus signified that his hour had come, and he set his face to the cross.
Let me know if you use this prayer exercise, and if you’re willing, how God met you. May entering the story of Jesus and his hour enrich your faith in him and your love for others.
I ran to the kitchen, wondering who was crying and what was wrong. But when I entered the room, I froze. Instead of walking over to my friend Karen, placing my hand on her shoulder and offering comfort, I seemed unable to move. I sensed somehow that her emotions felt too big, too overwhelming, for me to handle. Feeling helpless and not fully understanding what was going on within me, I watched while my other roommate enveloped Karen in the hug she needed.
TOO NEEDY TO MEET OTHERS’ NEEDS
Those decades ago, when Jesus wasn’t my best friend, I wasn’t a great friend to others. Lacking self-confidence and wrapped up in my hurt and fears, I focused on myself. While in conversation with others I often had another dialogue running in my head—what was the other person thinking of me? Were they finding me disappointing? Were they criticizing me? Stifled by my introspection, I couldn’t be fully present in the moment and reach out to embrace others as they needed to be heard and held.
But as Jesus befriended me, that all started to change—slowly…
[Read the rest at Propel Women – this was one of their top ten favorite reads of 2023!]
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Explore friendship with Jesus in Transforming Love. Find it – including a free copy of the introduction and first chapter – here.
