King's Daughters

Marriages often start falling apart when the communication dies down.  While Eric & I  were dating we were eager to chat about all of our plans for the future and spent hours talking about how great out life would be.  After we were married these conversation became less and less and day-to-day real life kicked in.  One of the things I realised that we stop talking about was our expectations of each other.  I have an internal list of things that I would love Eric to do for me and ways I would like him to treat me.  This list can range from really small things like emptying the bin to very important things like how he treats me in public or in front of his parents. As soon as we stop communicating our expectations, bitterness and disappointment sets in.  Bitterness and disappointment, if left unchecked can lead to a failed marriage and even divorce.  It's a scary thought, to think that our marriage could fail just because we stopped talking to...

Daniel's Christmas School Play Daniel the singing shepherd Getting ready to play in the snow Eric being creative with the camera :) Amy helping mommy start the snowman It's a GIRL!  Meet Matlida the snowlady

Did you know that there is only one sin that can send a person to hell?  It is fascinating when you think about it.  Check this out. John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. Unbelief - that is the only sin that can send you to hell. It's so simple yet so many of us completely miss it! John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. It's Christmas time and nearly time for a brand new year.  Why not celebrate this Christmas by truly believing John 3:16.  If you aren't in a local church, find a healthy one, and give Jesus a chance in your life this coming year.  Have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy new year. Love Angela xxx

Classic Christianity by Bob George: This book completely blew my mind!  The simple thought that we have been preaching only half of the gospel has completely challenged me. Too often we think Jesus came to sort out our sin thought His death, and He did, but that is only half of it.  He also came to give us a new life through His resurrection. One phrase section deeply impacted me. "If you were to see a butterfly, it would never occur to you to say, 'Hey, everybody! Come look at this good looking converted worm!'  Why not? After all, it was a worm.  And it was "converted."  No, now it is a new creature, and you don't think of it in terms of what it was.  You see it as it is now - a butterfly.  In exactly the same way, God sees you as His new creature in Christ. Although you might not always act like a good butterfly - you might land on things you shouldn't, or forget you are a butterfly and crawl around with your old worm buddies - the truth of the ma...

Hey girls!  I thought it would be a great idea to give you a little gift for Christmas - A King's Daughters only special offer bundle - Hope's Journey & King's Square CD for just £15!  If you are stuck for a gift idea, why not give a gift that can change their life forever, some great uplifting music along with a nice book to read. You can buy them here :) Have a wonderful Christmas xxx

You are no accident - no matter what anyone has ever said to you - it's not true!  You were created specifically and intentionally by your creator.  He personal chose your hair colour, your eyes and you personality.  You were made with lots of love.  Not only were you made so specifically but so was your entire future.  You were made a certain way to live a certain life.  I recently heard a saying that you can't squash your foot into a size 2 shoe if you don't have a size 2 foot!  So simple yet so profound.  God made you just the way you are so that you can do exactly what you want to do.  Yes, this isn't a typing mistake, what you want to do.  You see, even the desires in your heart were put there by Him.  You don't need to wonder if the desires in your heart are His will, if you are a Christian and are living close to Jesus then I can quite certainly say that the desire of your heart are also the desires of His heart. Psalm 139:...

My very first signing My wonderful mother-in-law buying 3 books! "Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin," Zechariah 4:10a  Today I had the wonderful privilege of doing my very first book signing at Living Oasis . It was so much fun, thank you to everyone who has been supporting me on this incredible journey.  Firsts are always so special and so are the small beginnings.  I have set up a Facebook page for King's Daughters so you can keep up with all my news if you like. There is so much more to come and I am so excited about what's coming 2011!

There may come a time when you think you are depressed! You know it is not a chemical thing in your brain and you’re sure it's not a form of burnout. If this is the case it could possibly be your mind! I have overcome so many nasty things in my life by fighting the battle in my mind. I am so passionate about this and love to preach on this subject too. Often we grow up seeing something in our family and because it is familiar to us and seems normal our mind accepts it. Depression can be one of those things. We think because one of our parents suffered with it we automatically will too. There are times when it is genuinely passed on either physically or spiritually. Many times though, it is all in your mind.  When you become a Christian everything changes – some things change instantly and other things change over time. Most things take time to change and one of those things is our mind. Before we were Christians, we thought a certain way – we thought according to our se...

This morning I was chatting to Jesus and found myself asking Him what He would like for His birthday this year. "Jesus, what can I do to make You  happy, what would you like for Your birthday this year?" My prayer was a simple one but I wanted to share it with you so that you can perhaps tell me what you think.  Please pray this prayer with me and ask Jesus what He wants for Christmas this year and share with me what you think He wants. I am so excited to see what we come up with together, I really think this Christmas is going to be the most special one ever, as we thoughtfully plan for Jesus birthday.  I wrote a song not so long ago along similar lines, just expressing my desire to please Jesus, have a listen - it's called Smile .

I think I have audacious faith figured out. It has nothing to do with how much faith you can muster, it has more to do with how much you have the audacity to ask for! James 4:2 ...You do not have because you do not ask God. Matthew 17:20 .... Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. You don't need much faith (a mustard seed's worth will do) but you do however need to ask.

Depression is often caused by burnout. Simply put - you have overdone it! I am very prone to this as I tend to like to do a lot. Very often I only realise I have done too much when it is too late. Learning to rest has been a key for me to avoid getting depressed and burnt out. Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Paul summed it up nicely in this verse in Philippians. You will find this is a fascinating verse if you look into what hearts and mind means in the original text. Rest Your Mind Heart in the original Greek text is “kardia” as mentioned in the chapter on the mind, which is the thoughts or feelings of the mind. Mind in the original Greek text is “noe ma” which means a perception, purpose, disposition or the intellect. Would you agree with me that ...

I am completely blown away by our plans for our upcoming Christmas Ball.  It started out as a small idea.  The idea, was to make the street people of Gloucester and the teenagers from our youth feel really special this Christmas.  We have had a fantastic year at our church and have seen many lives dramatically changed. People have come in off the street for the free sandwiches and coffee that we offer every Sunday.  Some of these people only come for the free stuff but some of them have lingered for church and have met Jesus!    So we set a date, booked the venue, announced the party and started inviting these precious people.  I asked all of my professional musician friends to join us by providing live music for the event but no one was able to.  I had this nagging voice  in my mind (as you do) to ask one of UK's most amazing bands, [dweeb] , to come and do the entertainment for the evening.  To my surprise and delight they agreed! I ...

What goes up must come down! I learned this the hard way by crashing badly. This left me extremely frustrated as I felt that I was never allowed to experience joy or happiness. Many times Eric would warm me, saying, “Be careful! You are getting too high now”. He always knew that he would be the one suffering the next moment when I came crashing down from my high. Often I would be very annoyed by his comment, thinking that I wasn't allowed to be happy or excited EVER! This really bothered me and I asked God to help me with this. I have now learned to love the moments of perfect balance in my life. They are rare and they don't last for more than a few hours at a time and on a rare occasion I can enjoy it for a whole day, but I would have to be totally alone for that to happen. Yes, I know, this is one of those times when you probably think I am very strange indeed! I have learned though, even in the times of perfect balance, to watch that it doesn't cause me do spi...

If life is a motorway, which lane are you in today?

I am so excited I could pop! On 11th December I will be doing an official launch of Hope's Journey and a book signing at Living Oasis Bookshop in Cheltenham. I would love you to join me if you live locally. xxx

As you know, I am a huge supported of the A21 Campaign .  Here is a great idea that they have running at the moment for Christmas. The A21 Shelter is a safe place in Greece where many survivors of human trafficking will be calling "home" this holiday season, and we want to ensure that we help make this truly a time of love, joy and peace. So, we came up with this idea... Let's ALL help make this holiday unforgettable for the girls! Here's the plan: 1. Send a Christmas card to the shelter! Hand-written letters have become a novelty these days. Because they take a bit more time and effort, they are not only special, they are personal, (nothing says love like taking the time to write something other than your signature). Please send your card or letter directly to Greece at: PO Box 10218 TK 54110 Thessaloniki Greece (*Please only send cards and letters.) 2. Make Change with Pocket Change! This is something easy that you can do right NOW! We have asked th...

Click on image for full size I know - ridiculous - but I have to! Take a look at my bookshelf... what do you see :)  I got the paperback version of my book this morning and I actually cried when I opened it.  It was as if I had given birth to a baby and was holding it for the first time.  I am so very excited and have had such lovely feedback already.  Sadly a lot of the feedback has been from people who are still struggling and need help.  Please pray that this book really does help people find hope and freedom from depression and suicide. 

My wonderful daughter Lorah, has been putting loads of effort into her own blog lately!  I thought I would take a moment to share it with you as it is well worth subscribing to.  Lorah is the Creative Pastor at our church and is doing incredibly well with all that God has given her to do.  She is faithfully sharing the journey that she is on through her blog, take a look here .  This Sunday Samuel & Lorah preached for the first time and I am so proud of them, have a listen to their message here .   

I am thrilled to bits to announce that Hope's Journey has been published and is now available on Amazon both in paperback and ebook .  I would be extremely grateful for your comments both on Amazon and on this blog .

Smile was played for the first time on BBC Radio last Saturday.  This is very exciting for our band and we are thrilled to bits to be getting Christian music onto the radio. Our CD, King's Square, has been doing so well so I thought it would be good to produce a song book too.  It has been released today on Amazon and is also available at our church info table.  It's very exciting to be able to share our music with other people and other churches.  Enjoy!

I am sitting at my computer hitting the refresh button over and over again at a local news report .  A woman has just jumped from the top story of a car park and I am watching the news and the comments that the readers are leaving.  My heart is grieved wondering who the woman is, do I know her, what drove her to jump?  Earlier this morning Eric walked into our church office (our living room with some desks in the corner) and I was sat at the phone crying.  I had just had a conversation with a woman who was going through a divorce.  This was her second divorce and she was not in a good place at all.  I was crying because I felt so helpless and was praying to God about what to do.  Now I am sitting here feeling very nauseous reading comments on the news website, wondering how to reach these precious people. Daily I am faced with bad news, should I stop crying and toughen up?  That is only the bad news from before 11am this morning.  Do I remind...

I have had many horrible days or weeks which often leave me feeling like a ‘bad’ person. I have learned to understand these times as hormonal times! Before I understood this, I struggled really badly. Hurting someone could have been a real possibility! I screamed at the children and I drove my husband crazy. Not nice at all. Depression also hit me badly some of these times, and as a result of the hormonal depression, I got even more depressed. Condemnation was a huge factor for how I had behaved, which caused me to sink even deeper into depression. This nasty cycle left me completely exhausted. When I was in my twenties I cried out to God as I didn’t understanding why I was so up and down. Why some days I was this evil woman that was out of control. I clearly remember crying my eyes out as a new Christians feeling so guilty for being so bad. At the time I was doing a lot of reading and came across a book where they author mentioned her struggle too. This really encouraged m...

I can't tell you how many times a week I complain that I have so little time to do anything!  At the same time I can tell you how many hours a week I spend on the computer.  Everything I do seems to revolve around the computer, I can't imagine not turning it on for a day.   I tacked the whole FaceBook Addiction thing a while ago but still there are so many other things I need to do that involve this little box sitting on my lap right now.  I have noticed too that the little details that I used to manage in our marriage have slipped away.  Neither Eric or I take time to set the table beautifully for a romantic dinner.  I don't make his favourite desert much and I know there are loads of other little details that I simply don't get around to any more. May I say, that if your husband comes home from work and is greeted by the back of your head, as you are busy on the computer - he is not pleased. There is not a man alive that wouldn't love to come home...

I was walking in town yesterday and spotted D7 Band's King's Square CD in the CD shop, so I did what anybody would do at such an exciting discovery -  I took a photo!  I got home and Eric put it on his blog right away.  Check out Eric's blog for the answer to the question... What Do D7 Band And Bob Dylan Have In Common?

If you don't want to be challenged to the core and moved to action, DON'T read this book.  Rather go to Argos to pick up a catalogue and plan your Christmas shopping.  Seriously!  Even a person with the hardest heart imaginable will be moved to tears within minutes of reading  'Out Live Your Life'.  The first two and a half pages, before chapter one even begins, gave me goosebumps! The first chapter caused me to start the Human Trafficking section of my blog because I had no excuse not to. My selfishness has been challenged to the core and my excuses have been obliterated.  I don't know when last a read a book that has impacted me this much and so have decided not to tell you too much more about it, so that you will get a copy for yourself.  Thank you very much Thomas Nelson , for providing me with this book to review.

My lovely 15 year old daughter got right on the case the second I Blogged about Human Trafficking !  She created this gorgeous picture for her FaceBook page and challenged all her friends to do the same.  It's amazing what can be done if people pull together - we really can make a difference one small step at a time.  Have you done something creative too to support this cause?  Let us know about it in the comment box below.

It's Saturday morning and I am at my computer in my pyjamas, quite tired as I only got to bed around 2am, thinking that I really should write a blog post.  I have loads of future posts planned but none of them feel quite right for this morning.  Saturday is our family day, it is the one day a week where we just hang out together as a family.  No computers allowed so I usually post my Saturday blog post in advance or simply don't have one.  Today is slightly different because I need to let Eric have a lie in as he is not well at the moment, so I thought I would steal a moment to chat to you. OK I will come right out with it - something has been troubling me lately!  I am becoming very burdened with the state of families on the UK and the general state of the world.  Yes I know sounds silly.  Usually I ignore those feelings, I dismiss them instantly because they are too big and there is nothing I can do about it. I am doing the best I can with what God ...

This is another sort of list really but it might be a bit weird if someone ever found it written down so perhaps memorise it! I have learned to understand that there are different types of people in my life; those that drain me and those that fill me, people who bring something to my life and people that take something from me and also people who divide or multiply in my life. I understand that I can't always avoid people that drain me, my job is to love everyone and my desire is to love everyone just as Jesus does. Equally I understand that life is seasonal and friends that bring something during this season might need to take things from me in the next season. Those are balanced friendships which are give and take. But there are other people that can be very draining ALL the time and intentionally take ALL the time. Over the years I have learned to limit my time with draining people and I have also learned to seek out people that fill me. Eric and I have one friend in parti...

Over the past three weeks we have been running a series at Church called The Naked Preacher.  The heart behind this series was that the leaders of D7 Church would be open and honest about  all sorts of things with the congregation.  Eric did two Q&A sessions where he answered all sorts of questions that people had sent in and I wrapped it up this Sunday with a messaged called Better the Devil You Know.  This message was based on my testimony from my recently released book, Hope's Journey .  I went into my struggle with depression & suicide and then took a look at the devil's strategy in our life.  I wrapped it up with my own victory story and the beautiful, awesome, incredible plan that God has for our life.  If you would like to have a listen you can do so here .       Have a beautiful week. Love Angela xxx

Eric is a wonderful support to me and I am thankful that I have him to remember what I need to stay full.  When I am unable to know what I need, He will know. Does this make sense? I have told him all the things that I do that fill me and also the things that drain me. I have shared my observations of who I am and who I am not. Many times when I am down he will ask what I need and usually I say I don't know because I genuinely don't know. In these times Eric knows what I need, he knows to take me for a walk even if I don't want to go for a walk as this always helps. He knows to encourage me to play my piano, or guitar, or work on a song. He knows that I might need some time alone, without the children. He knows that I might need him to tidy up the house a bit so I can find my strength to carry on. He knows all these little things because I have made a point of telling him what I need so that when I don't have to strength to figure out what I need he can help me....

Wonderful Wife Challenge - Start with the Small Things I love the comment Cheryn posted and this is the perfect place to start the Wonderful Wife Challenge.  In fact I have decided to honour her in this post as she is the most wonderful wife that I know.  This is what Cheryn said; "I think we should start with the small challenges, the things we think don't make a difference but actually make all the difference. Just saying thank you and showing appreciation for stuff we often overlook and take for granted (like my daily lifts to and from the train station), make his favourite dinner/dessert.  Put a little card with some nice words in it under his pillow."  Cheryn has definitely hit the nail on the head, let's start with the small things.  Most importantly let's keep it up and not forget to always keep the small lovely details in our marriage, it's so easy not to bother. I challenge you this week to come up with lovely small things that you can do, l...

Every little girl wants to know that their daddy thinks they are beautiful! As we grow older that doesn’t change, our heart and souls still longs to hear the words, “You are beautiful”.  But what if your daddy didn't call you beautiful?  What if he hurt you or touched you in places that he shouldn't?  How can you feel beautiful or believe that your Father in heaven loves you when you have no idea what that means?  Secure on the Rock is an emotional roller coaster ride through my experiences with my earthly daddy and the security I finally found in the heart of my heavenly daddy.   This is the second book in the three part series called Loving Life which I am working on.  I have completed the first draft and would like to invite you to have a proof read and to write a review too.  If you are interested please leave your email address in the comments box below and I will send you a copy to proof read. You can see the table of contents h...

My heart still flutters when I hear his voice, my knees still feel week when I see him in a photo like the one here!  After six years of marriage I am still totally and utterly in love with my wonderful husband, Eric.  We have a wonderful marriage but it has taken work.  If we are not intentionally moving forward as a couple we are moving backwards.  Life is always moving in one direction or the other, it never stands still.  So in order to keep my marriage moving forward and so as not to become familiar with my wonderful husband I have decided to challenge you to join me in becoming a wonderful wife!  Over the next while I am going to post some challenges for us that will help us intentionally be even more amazing wives.  Before I begin though I would like to hear your suggestions for challenges. What area would like to intentionally work on in your marriage?

Yippee let's make a list - um... I guess not very exciting really! It's not that the list making is exciting, it is what the list can do for you when you feel down that is great. I have two lists; things that fill me and things that drain me. Every time I have found something that either fills me or drains me I write it on my list. This way when I am feeling drained and can remind myself of what fills me and force myself to do it. The list that drains me is a great tool too as it reminds me of what not to do too much of. Lists have really helped me over the years. I even have a list of who I am and who I am not. This has helped me so much too. On one occasion I was in an interview for a job I thought I would really like. I thought this job was a project manager role but half way through the interview I realised it was a personal assistant role. As soon as I realised this I said to the interviewer; "I am sorry; I don't want to waste your time this job is not ...