Date for the diary

This Sunday (19th October) Malcolm and Nick will be at Perry Rise Baptist Church, South London at 6.30pm for one of their Open Space meetings talking about their story and their faithful God.  They would both value your prayers for this meeting!

A Long Journey

I haven't blogged on here for ages! Last week would have been a 12th birthday if things had been different back in 2004........it was strange for us in one way with the questions of how different life would have been but in another way it was precious for us. On the 'due date' we were out for lunch doing something positive, being together and grateful to God knowing that He is 100% faithful and true. 

Since my last blog we are now worshipping at a different church - now in Crawley and it is a different fresh start for us. We have been amazed again at the faithfulness of a God who does not alter, shift or change; whose Kingdom is not shaken.

We have realised that the journey is long, it isn't just a quick 100m sprint but the race we run, the journey we travel is long but yet in the grand picture of all eternity it is just a moment. This week we approach our 21st wedding anniversary - knowing God has kept us together through the laughter as well as the tears.

Fresh Start

In January 2011 it felt like my life crumbled to pieces!  Two years on and we really have been on a journey.  The term 'journey' is overused by reality shows etc etc but it is the only way to describe what has happened to us.  To cut a VERY long story short we have in the past year moved house, area and Church as a direct result of feeling that God was telling us that it was time for a fresh start.  Time to have some space to heal and space to rest where home would be a pleasant place to refresh.  God has led and blessed us.  From a wide search area he led us to a town in Surrey called Horley.  Throughout our move we have prayed 'Lord please lead us to the right Church' - we had a handful of things we were looking for in a new Church - somewhere that would take us as were, a grace Church, somewhere where we met with God, somewhere where noone knew us - thus having no expectations of what we would do or what we should be like - taking us at face value!  We also wanted somewhere that be willing to let us 'just be' for a while - we knew that God had clearly been telling us that we needed time and space to heal. Pratically we also wanted somewhere local so we could walk if necessary and a hope that others from the Church would also be local!  We found such a Church in Southlands www.southlands.org.uk

Since our move it feels like a fresh page and God is once again speaking to us.  I hope in weeks and months to come to share a bit more about the journey of the last two years and to share our continuing journey of learning about God's grace, how He has helped us to rebuild our lives over this last two years, things we have learned and how we have found God in the midst of the darkest times.

2011

In January 2011 Malcolm and Nick miscarried again. They are very grateful for the support from so many during this hard year.

Emails etc

Hi!
Firstly apologies to those who have e-mailed me at hopewhenithurts and then waited ages for a response - we are having some problems getting those e-mails downloaded to my home computer so it takes a slightly more complicated route to pick them up! Also it is holiday season so replies will be delayed till a week or so into September - SORRY!

I really want to encourage you guys to read this blog post by Steve McVey - it blessed my heart! It is entitled The Outlook Or The Uplook? and will be worth reading if things are tough going right now!

Bless yer!
Nick x

Tears

Recently there have been many tears for me and although I have written a book called 'It's OK to Cry.' I still struggle to realize that it really is OK. It is tough and the tears do fall and the battle does rage and the thoughts do come 'is it really ok?' It is hard..............

Help is on the way!

This is a great song from Michael W. Smith's album 'A New Hallelujah' - this song has blessed me loads recently so thought I would post it here!