Catrina Benham's Blog

Morning! Thanks to some clever techy people, My message from Saturday's Word and Worship event is now up on the Kerith website if you want to take a listen. You'll find it under "Home" , then "media". It's great to have started a conversation between us women about the power of our words. Words can either break or make our relationships and friendships with each other. Words break relationships when we criticise, gossip and speak unkindly to other women. But words can also make relationships (bringing life, love and hope) when we choose them carefully and use them kindly. Heather's continuing some thoughts about criticism and critical words on her blog - take a look! “Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation” Matthew 12:36 "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may bene

Thank you to all you lovely women who came out to Word and Worship on Saturday night! It was so lovely to meet so many different women - and to chat, laugh, eat, drink, worship, pray and share truth together. What a privilege to meet together like that - time for each other and time for us and God. Thanks so much to Lisa and the "Simply" team for organising the evening so brilliantly. Thanks too to the technical team and Eileen and the singers and band - wow it was wonderful to spend time worshipping the Lord together. Thanks too to all the willing helpers on the evening, the lovely smiley ladies who were there to help - I really appreciate you! The truth is that the Holy Spirit will use all of us to speak God's love to others -it's in a smile, a word, a hug, a prayer - in a generous cup of coffee, a luxurious hot chocolate and a guiding car-parker! It was my privilege to share a message from the Bible with you - all about Kind Words - the words that are relatio

I'm really looking forward to bringing the message at Word and Worship on Saturday night. It's a challenge of course in the run up to speaking, to use my time well so that I hear from God what's on His heart for the women. I love this verse in the Bible (it's 2 Thessalonians 1:11 in the Message paraphrase, and so says it how it is!) "Because we know that this extraordinary day is just ahead, we pray for you all the time— pray that our God will make you fit for what he's called you to be, pray that he'll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something . If your life honours the name of Jesus, he will honour you. Grace is behind and through all of this, our God giving himself freely, the Master, Jesus Christ, giving himself freely." I never want it to just be "our good ideas", we need to hear God's voice. As I "leaked" on Sunday, I recently read a newspaper article based on some res

As I said on Sunday, I'll be giving up my Saturday night "Strictly Come Dancing" fix, to be at Simply Word and Worship at Kerith ! Ladies it's 7-30-9-30pm, £2.50 on the door. We have no idea of expected numbers, which makes catering pretty exciting :) but we're hoping for a great evening together with many women of all ages. We've planned the programme to give space for God and space for us. Space to spend time worshipping. Space to chat to one another. Space to pray and be prayed for. Space to listen without interruptions! The evening starts with delicious cakes and drinks of coffee, tea and luxurious hot chocolate at 7.30. We've then got half an hour before the worship starts. Take the time to chat with friends; browse the bookshop; and take a look at the Information table, where you can find out more about Activate, Exposition, Fourteen ,Serenje Penpals and Hope For Justice. From 8-9.15 we'll worship together , I'll bring a message from the B

"And when we see You we find strength to face the day, In Your presence all our fears are washed away" As I woke up this morning, these were the words in my mind, from the song Hosanna I don't know what I'll face today - I'm working, it's raining, it's my turn to do playground duty :) Whatever we need for today, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically - it's God who will give us the strength to face it. He is Immanuel, God with us. Thank God that He cares, that He loves, that He speaks, that He equips. It reminds me of something Ben Oliver said in the sermon on Sunday "This Christmas, God can speak to us wherever and whenever He likes". What's God saying to you?

We all need a little lot of hope May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit    Romans 15:13 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure Hebrews 6:19  Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23

I'm excited to announce that we have a Guest Blogger today! Following on from her preach at the 11am meeting last Sunday, here's a great article by Kerith's Worship Pastor Helen Cottee. James 4: 6-8 ‘God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble’. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you’   I’ve always loved the last part of that verse. The promise that as we draw near to God, he will draw near to us. It’s such an incredible reality of our relationship with God – a God who wants to be in relationship with us, who wants to be close to us, who created us to live that way. The tangible, earth-shanking, comfort bringing, hope restoring presence of God is what he wants us to engage with, and is our deepest need. I know for me there have been times when God’s presence has felt so far away but the bible promises that there is nowhere we can flee from his presence – how does that work?! My musings on

Evangelist J John “We’re not prepared so we’re not intentional about it but part of bridge-building is to tell a bit of your story and a bit of His story. I challenged each of us to have a conversation with God this week, to t hink it through – what are the key points of your story? Looking at Paul’s testimony in Acts 26:9-23, he talked about What he was like before; What it meant to meet Jesus; and What it’s meant for him since. Author and evangelist, Tim Keller reminds us that we're not looking to have a debate or to get the whole gospel into one conversation (although we might!). Instead, keep it simple! Assuming that you are already showing Love and kindness and integrity, then   Let them know you go to Church Let them know you are a Christian and that it means something to you  eg "Worry used to be a huge problem for me, and it's still something I struggle with, but I know my Christian faith has really helped me to worry less” I believe that God will use the

Telling Your Story helps others find salvation in Jesus. The Disciples asked Jesus why He taught in parables (told stories)                                                                  “ When they were off by themselves, those who were close to him, along with the Twelve, asked about the stories. He told them, "You've been given insight into God's kingdom—you know how it works. But to those who can't see it yet, everything comes in stories, creating readiness, nudging them toward receptive insight ."  Mark 4:10-12 I love that phrase! It's God who saves, but we can play our part in telling our stories - giving God the glory for what He has done and is doing in our lives. Remember the story of the woman at the well, who had a conversation with Jesus? “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony , “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he

Telling your story blesses you - it's part of what of helps us to overcome the devil. Rev 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” The Devil is defeated, by the death of the Son of God, (the blood of the lamb) Declaring that Jesus has won, strengthens our faith, helps us to resist temptation, reminds us that satan is defeated - makes us more bold! Do you know that b y the Blood of Jesus we are: redeemed (paid the price, bought back) and rescued; justified (acquitted of all charges, just as if I’d never sinned) cleansed from sin; sanctified (set apart from the condemnation of sin )   “You cannot go into all manner of deep doctrines or curious points, but you can tell to all those around you that “There is life in a look at the Crucified One”. You can bear witness to the power of the blood of Jesus in your own soul. If you do this, you will overcom

Last Sunday we marked Remembrance Sunday and celebrated Baptisms in a 3:30 Sunday. With Helen Cottee preaching at the 11am meeting; and Ben Pocock preaching at the 7pm, it was a huge privilege for me to preach at the 9am Kerith meeting. You can listen to the day's preaches again, or for the first time here . Over the next few days, I'd like to post some of the thoughts and Bible verses that I talked about. I pray that they are an encouragement to you to Tell Your Story. Our lives tell stories , and as Christians, people of faith who follow Jesus, our lives are a series of moments through which God is telling His story “We are all of us telling the greatest story of all, the story of redemption, through the person of Jesus Christ”      Nancy Beach A person’s personal story can be a very powerful thing - It’s what makes the life changing message of the cross personal to us . 1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an a

How often do we think something nice, but don't actually say it? Yesterday I had a short text from a friend. She said she liked the new picture of me and Simon on my blog.  That's it - and you know what, just her thinking of me, made me feel good! Kindness is like that. Simon's been encouraging us to be a community of kindness. God has poured His kindness into us - our natural response is is to be kind. Love is kind (1 Cor 13v4) Lord, help me to be fully present right now. To hear Your voice in my busy-ness. To take each moment. To encourage and show love and kindness to others. To take people up in their lifts today. Amen.

What a great day in Church yesterday!  In focussing on Social Media, Simon brought two brillant messages on how we interact with and use the internet to engage, embrace and effectively communicate via Facebook, Twitter and Blogs. If you missed either message, check out the podcasts at www.kerith.co.uk Simon talked about Kindness .We are recipients of so much kindness from God, that it must pour out of us towards others. This effects how we use Social media - what we say and how we say it. Asking ourselves "Is this comment going to take someone "up in their lift"?" So what about you? What do you enjoy about Facebook? Who do you follow on Twitter? Were you inspired to start writing a blog; or create some music or a short film and put it on YouTube? Do you have your own personal guidelines for healthy, positive use of Social media in your daily life? I'd love to hear your thoughts.  James 3:17-18 Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and

 My friend Bev Landreth-Smith from The Beacon Church Camberley, is hosting the  Inspire Ladies day on Saturday November 12th 2011. The day commences at 10am (9:30 for coffee) and will finish at 3:30pm. Cost is £18 (including lunch) and you can book online. A great opportunity for us, as it's so local!  I went along last year and had a great day! It's just around the corner (time and distance wise!).Squeezed between a fireworks party and preaching on the Sunday at Kerith (please come along and smile at me!), I'm planning to go along again this year, so why not come along too?

  Simply Word and Worship Saturday 26 th November at 7.30. It's getting colder...and the Christmas decorations are already up in Tesco's...women, we need an evening out together! It will be an evening for us to spend time together as women, with a Bible message, worshipping, talking and praying. Tickets are £2.50 and will be available on the door. Put the date in your diary and plan to come along and bring a friend for a relaxing, friendly, and inspiring evening together. ... More details very soon (look out for us, this Sunday at Kerith)