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 my monthly newsletter for more prayer practices.
Find out more about 7 Ways to Pray, including links for ordering and resources for small groups.
Will God really provide for you?
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,
(Carmina Gadelica I, p. 69)
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.
Find out more about 7 Ways to Pray, including links for ordering and resources for small groups.
Jesus knows when we’re weary. He bids us to come and rest with him; his yoke is easy and his burden is light.
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!
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
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.
Enjoy this Resurrection Sunday!
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.
Here is the link to the video where I lead this prayer exercise, hosted by Coracle.
This prayer exercise forms part of the online course that Waverley Abbey Trust produced on The Prayers of Jesus, complete with small-group guide.
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.
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!]
Explore friendship with Jesus in Transforming Love. Find it – including a free copy of the introduction and first chapter – here.
Do you crave comfort food when you’re feeling tired and overwrought? How do you look to God in times like these?
That’s a question I explore in Holding onto Hope, the new book of my reflections and my dad’s wonderful artwork. Each week during Lent I post a new video that explores one of the chapters (and it’s played on UCB1). Today we move from the images of creation to those God employs in the Bible about how he welcomes us into the kingdom.
Author, retreat leader and mentor Tony Horsfall says about it:
‘I know how difficult it can be to hold onto hope. At times it feels like a very slippery rope. The paradox, however, is that we are being held as much as we are holding. Amy’s carefully crafted devotions and deeply relevant prayers, together with her father’s simple yet illuminating artwork, provide us with the assurance we need in our distress. They help us to reach out to the God who is already reaching out to us. Here is a beautiful resource to enrich our times of reflection and longing for God, rekindling hope within us.’
I’m so pleased to welcome you to a journey of hope this season of Lent through our new book, Holding onto Hope. My reflections and my dad’s lovely artwork will help you encounter the living, loving God. When our hope is waning we can explore the biblical images that God graciously gives us – the trees clapping their hands, the streams in the desert, a God who became a person and gave himself for us.
Would you like to join our closed Facebook group? There’s no charge; I only ask that you purchase a copy of the book. Email me for more information (amy@amyboucherpye.com); it promises to be a space to support others and receive encouragement.
I will also release weekly videos with excerpts from my new book to boost your faith in God. Find them and more prayer practices on my YouTube channel.
Buy your copy of Holding onto Hope, with Amy’s reflections and her dad Leo’s artwork. And join Amy for a monthly prayer practice, along with beautiful photographs to ponder and enjoy.
Author and spiritual director Sharon Garlough Brown says about it:
‘In this beautiful pairing of words and art, Amy Boucher Pye and her father, Leo Boucher, invite us into a journey of hope by meditating on the steadfast faithfulness of a kind and trustworthy God. Amy’s insightful reflections on scripture and poignant prayers bring the word to life, while Leo’s gentle paintings provide visual opportunities to savour the goodness of God’s care for us. In a time when so many are weary and heavy-laden, Holding Onto Hope bids us to come, rest and be renewed in the Lord’s love.’
“Can you really not throw this away?” I say to my husband with irritation, holding up a crumpled piece of paper that I know, before I pick it up, is a list of groceries that he bought at the store.
He sighs and says he’ll try. Later I apologize for my grumpiness when it comes to those many shopping lists strewn around our home. I have tried to train myself to stop, apologize, and ask for forgiveness when I get annoyed or lose my temper with family members, often over the little things of life. Sometimes it’s easier to adhere to the “stopping” part of that cycle than at other times, even though after the fact I wish I could reel in my tongue sooner.
Can you recall a time you didn’t honor Christ in the day-to-day of life? Unfortunately, I could share several other stories! But a wonderful and freeing part of serving our forgiving God is how He runs toward us with grace and love. Though we fail, in the little moments of the day or the big ones, He offers us a fresh start, a clean slate. We’re His beloved—He doesn’t label us by our wrongdoings.
The Beloved Daughter
God running toward us, arms outstretched with love, is pictured in the well-known parable Jesus tells of the Prodigal Son (see Luke 15:11–31). Imagine a slice of this familiar story—with a twist—and see how your heart reacts:
[Read the rest over at the God Hears Her website and join in with this wonderful community]