Leaders gathered from all over the UK when I visited London to encourage one another in Mum Heart Ministry.
Hear from my friends. Listen to their hearts. God is drawing women from all over the world to a common calling--to walk with Him and to build a godly legacy. Watch and feel the bond of these precious mamas. (Or Mums!)
Read the amazing story of how God is on the move in England and Europe.
Oxford was a far off place of high-brow academic professors and aged halls of history in my mind. I never thought or dreamed that my children would walk its streets, become engaged in great ideas, get their degrees from such auspicious universities. Yet, God often has stories for us to live that are very different than we imagined.
Our first exposure to Oxford came in 2003 when Sarah found a C.S. Lewis conference for us to attend. We saved our money for a year and Clay blessed me by sending Sarah and me to our very first conference together as adults, while he took care of the others. Celebrating 2 weeks of glorious days listening to inspiring lecturers, sipping tea in the shadows of ornate buildings from hundreds of years gone by and having our souls and minds stretched and inspired created a spark in Sarah that enflamed a larger fire later in her life. She dreamed of attending school in Oxford.
Fast forward many years and eventually, Sarah and Joy would attend classes there the same year. As their mama, I wanted to visit, so I planned a trip. But, I also wondered if there were other women there wanting to hear the same messages we had been teaching in America and other international venues for many years. Because of our association with the C.S. Lewis society through all these years, we had become familiar with his home and those who lived there. They graciously allowed me to use his library and on facebook, I put a post that said I would be there and could host 40 women for a morning out.
In less that a week, I had over 40 women respond and so we all stuffed into Lewis's library and I spoke for 2 or 3 hours. What fun to meet women from all over England, Scotland, Austria, Germany, and places beyond. I was so surprised, humbled and so very grateful.
As a young woman, I was challenged to invite people into my arenas--whether home or ministry venues--and then expect the Lord to show up. And He really showed up in Oxford. At one of these meetings, (i held 3 over the last few years), I met Jacqui, a sweet friend that I believe God had prepared to head up our ministry in the UK.
Jacqui and me!
To make a long interesting story a little bit shorter, after becoming friends, having her in my home for a leadership intensive with her sweet friend, Amy, we planned and dreamed about doing a conference in London to begin spreading the training and inspiration with other sweet women.
Amy and her husband generously offered their church for us to host a conference without charge. We planned, they worked hard, and we had a sell out and could not take any more women in their fellowship hall where they had a wonderful English Tea. One hundred 25 women from all over the UK and Europe showed up--we had 6 countries represented. The conference was so inspiring to me as I saw women from all over, different walks of life, different ages, different cultural backgrounds, but all enthusiastic to learn more about becoming strategic with their family's, children and ministry in building godly children for the next generation. I love these precious ones.
While in London, I was able to spend several hours with Jacqui. Then, I had the privilege of spending a whole morning with these others who are willing to try to start a ministry in their country where motherhood, children and marriage have been a battleground for many years.
We are hoping to increase our conferences to at least 2, if not 3 or 4 next year. I am also hoping to spend significant time there in the next couple of years to help train leaders of regions and small groups to take these messages to mums who long for spiritual companionship and encouragement. We have over 325 women involved in our small groups now and hope to equip more women to start more groups so that they will not feel alone.
Please pray for these precious women as they are in a minority in their neighborhoods and churches. Pray for strength, wisdom, community and ministry through their lives. . Please pray for us as we seek to expand our ministry through Europe, Australia, China, South Africa, Asia and other countries where we have active ministries growing.
If God puts it on your heart to help us expand our ministry around the world, please use the donate button on the sidebar and help us reach parents with the biblical messages of raising godly children who will become the adult leaders in the next generation. We hope to do some leadership training there in the coming year and need to find places for training, a place to stay and materials we can print to give to the various leaders.
We are so very grateful for all of you who have given so generously to our ministry over the years. We wanted you to see firsthand what God is doing in this special place.
Won't you leave a comment below to let these precious friends, who mean so much to me, know that you are praying for them and that you feel the same feelings that they feel?