Footprints Retreat

• March
• 2

Have you ever been away on a girlie weekend?! I highly recommend it! Just got back from a wonderful weekend up the coast with the Footprints girls. 

Mel spoilt us by taking care of the cooking and food, the rest of us just turned up! Vivian, our resident psychologist “psycho-analysed” us all on Friday night and shared some fun psych/personality card games with us.

Saturday morning we were woken bright and early by Melanie and Nicola bouncing on our beds  … too bad if we wanted to sleep in! After a full cooked brekky (bacon, scrambled eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast) we did a wonderful prayer workshop with Nicola who shared with us about the “ACTS” prayer format. We shared our thoughts and experiences of prayer, wrote a few prayers on each of the posters marked “Adoration”, “Confession” and “Thanksgiving” before breaking for individual prayer time for “Supplication”. Nicola encouraged us to also take some time to LISTEN, and for myself personally God gave me a beautiful article comparing my relationship with God with my relationship with my pet cockatiel Buddy so stay tuned for that … maybe the next FOCUS?!

Anissa came and visited Saturday afternoon, joining us for lunch, swimming and a beach walk. We actually did some “Footprints business”, planning the Decadence launch/10^th birthday party to take place on 29 March, before Vivian’s sister Belinda arrived. Then it was off to Mooloolabe where we enjoyed dinner at a Moroccan restaurant (yummmmmm!). I was very blessed when Nicola gave me a shoulder massage as I was very tight and sore from swimming, so I slept like a baby all night! Most of us were severely trashed and were in bed by 10, but I believe Nic & Vivian burnt the midnight oil and enjoyed chatting on the balcony til quite late!

This morning we went to church together and were very blessed by the worship, message and fellowship. An old friend of Nicola’s now attends that particular church, but it was a real blast from the past when we bumped into a couple that Mel, Nic and I knew from our youth group days! It’s such a small world. 

We had some great deep and meaningful conversations and solved the problems of the world as only women can do J …

Our first Footprints retreat was way back in 1999, but despite the wonderful time we had we didn’t get around to it again until last year, when we decided it HAD to become an annual tradition! Who knows, maybe one day we will open it up to readers as well and have a Footprints camp or convention!

Our Birthday Bash!

• February
• 26

Just received some GREAT news - Aliki (www.aliki.com.au) will be singing at our 10th birthday bash! It’s shaping up to be a truly memorable occasion, with a sumptuous afternoon tea, giveaways, and a light-hearted yet inspirational program. We will also be launching our new book “DECADENCE: treat yourself to 10 years of Footprints”! It’s all happening on Saturday 29 March from 2pm at Rivers Cafe, 322 Wecker Road Mansfield. To reserve YOUR ticket, send an email to editor@footprintsaustralia.com or talk/text to 0421 482 642.

And here’s a sneak peek at the cover of DECADENCE!

Issue #41 OUT NOW!!!!

• February
• 15

Our 10th birthday issue has arrived! If you are a subscriber to Footprints magazine, expect it in your mailbox any day now (that’s if it hasn’t already arrived). The cover features the Footprints Team in glorious living colour! And here’s a sneak peak of what you can expect inside:

- Photo gallery recording 10 wonderful years of Footprints
- Bible trivia quiz & comp
- Are you a cockroach Christian?!
- Turn your misery into your ministry!
- Could you fast from shopping for 40 days?
- A creepy spider story
- Make merry with mocktails!
- The dangers of passive sex …

… and plenty more to inspire, inform and uplift your spirit!

Not a subscriber? Love to see a copy of Footprints for yourself? To receive a free trial copy, just drop an email with your name and address to editor@footprintsaustralia.com and we’ll be happy to send you one!

My Goal in God for 2008

• February
• 1

In the January FOCUS ezine (not a subscriber? send an email to editor@footprintsaustralia.com with FOCUS in the subject line and I can add you to the mailing list. It’s free!), I encouraged readers to formulate a Goal in God for 2008.

So what is MY Goal in God for 2008?! Well, it took me nearly a month to prayerfully find one, but finally, here it is:

“To find a spiritual mentor and meet monthly for coffee and prayer.”

My mentor is Pastor Rhonda, the head of women’s ministries in my church. We share a love of God, preaching His message, and encouraging women. This week we had our first get-together, and it was SUCH a blessing. Not only did I get to pick her brain on strategies for improving my public speaking, but we had an awesome prayer time together (we agreed that we can ALL do with more prayer in our lives!) and really got to know each other in a new way. I’m ashamed to admit that despite knowing Rhonda for at least 5 years, until this week I did not even know her children’s names, or how old they are!(Robert, 40 this year, & Sharon, 38) .

I’m looking forward to working with Rhonda on the women’s ministries team, and developing a friendship that brings us both closer to God. She joked that she’s not sure who is the mentor and who is the mentee, and I am honoured to think that she holds me in such high esteem. Regardless, I know that God is going to bless our partnership this year!

So what Goal in God did YOU come up with? I’d love to hear about it! You can always drop me a line at editor@footprintsaustralia.com.

Article or Message?

• January
• 28

How’s this for a God-incidence?!

For the past couple of weeks I have had an article brewing in my head, when suddenly it struck me that this was MORE than something for Footprints magazine, this was a MESSAGE to be preached! I felt that God was giving me a “heads up”, and that I would need this message very soon …

That night, the Psalm I read for my devotion dealt with the EXACT SAME TOPIC as the article/message I had been thinking about! God was definitely up to something …

Sure enough, the very next day the request came - would I be willing to preach at the Sunday morning service at church on 17 February? Would I?! Considering God had already dropped the message into my spirit, how could I refuse?!