Online Book Launch for Our Sisters

Hear stories, ask questions and celebrate at the online book launch for Our Sisters.

Our Sisters … are inviting you

You’ll have an extra hour on Sunday, 26th October, because the clocks will be going back (apologies, that won’t be the case if you’re in the US). So, why not spend your bonus time with me at the book launch for Our Sisters?

Our Sisters … are remembered in prayer

I love Ignatian Prayer and have heard God speak to me clearly through the practice. I get to have a conversation with God about a Bible passage. Depending on His reply, I may feel comforted, challenged or further confused. In which case, I continue talking with Him and allowing the Holy Spirit to direct me until I have some answers. Through Ignatian Prayer I had some clear direction as I wrote my next book ‘Our Sisters’.

Our Sisters … are caught in the crossfire

Can you pray for boldness and opportunity so that Christians can be peacemakers in the escalating conflict between Pakistan and India?

Our Sisters … can hear whispers

I returned from my whirlwind trip to stunning Lahore in Punjab just last week and haven’t been able to think about much else since. Pakistan and its people have enthralled me. I was incredibly fortunate to meet with people working at every level of society to improve the lives of Christian women there.

Hands together in prayer for NATO on camouflage background

Praying for NATO

With everything going on right now, I feel desperate for a move of God.

Our Sisters … are betwixt and between

I have a sadistic Belgian Pilates teacher who loves to put those of us in her classes in stress positions and then make us lift weights. The situation with my book, Our Sisters, feels similar. I’m writing to you while stretched taut between the writing and the revealing. In the meantime, I am going to Pakistan.

It’s behind you

I look rather nervous because behind me are all kinds of snakes and spiders in specimen jars.

Have you seen this?

I’m aware there’s a fight for my eyeballs; all those posts that scream ‘look at me’. So, this year, I want to do better.

Please pray for Shagufta

Yet another woman has been sentenced to death in Pakistan for blasphemy. It is terrible; all Shagufta did was forward a WhatsApp message that she probably didn’t understand. Please, please pray for her; she has four children who need her.

Our Sisters … it’s time to celebrate

I’m jubilant; I just submitted my completed manuscript for Our Sisters, about persecuted #women in and from Pakistan, to my publisher. Woohoo!

It took a little under two years to complete, is 71,543 words long, and spans 138 Word document pages. It includes #interviews with activists, campaigners, journalists, pastors, and girls and women directly affected by oppression. I can’t wait to introduce them to you.

Our Sisters … aren’t finished yet

When does summer end and autumn begin? I lit a candle today, so it feels like autumn has arrived, even though I was basking in the summer sun in Spain only two weeks ago. This weekend, it’s supposed to be getting hot again. Although I love the sun, I also want to know what weather to expect when I wake up. Have you started wearing socks again? Why do we like to have clear distinctions between times and seasons?

Now that autumn has plausibly arrived, the deadline for my book manuscript is looming. I had planned on …

This is a forgetting world

We are called to remember.

Our Sisters … have champions

Lighter mornings make me feel joyful. The sun creeping around the shutters and through the curtains gives me hope that the day will go well, and I wake up eager to get started. Thankfully, the succession of dark, wintry mornings might just be over, and I sense the bright hope of spring.

As my previous newsletters have attested, I have gone through a dark writing season. Interviewing girls who have experienced profound trauma was tough. But I have moved on a little and am now speaking to the unsung heroes standing up against persecution and violence. It has been a welcome relief; I sense the light.

Worshippers at the Royal Albert Hall sing hymns

Singing Hymns

I am determined to develop a fuller understanding of who God is and know him better. In light of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the fighting between Israel and Hamas, I am in desperate need of a mighty God who can act to end suffering and conflict. A cuddly God is not enough for me right now. I wonder if you might feel the same way. Almost everyone I have spoken with recently fears for the future, and I long to bring them hope. Can singing hymns help me do this?

Our Sisters … can’t wait. Here’s what you can do to help today

It’s strange, and hopefully not too conceited, to think that someone might unwrap a copy of one of my books … More

If you’re experiencing COMPASSION FATIGUE, you’re not alone, and there’s no need to feel guilty

It seems I can’t stop writing about oxymorons; last week, it was ‘Evangelical Tenderness’, and before that, I wrote an entire book about ‘The Oxymoronic God’. Now, I find myself grappling with ‘Compassion Fatigue’, the idea that with so much bad news channelled at us, the only way to cope is to disengage.