Catrina Benham's Blog

We're off on our family holiday - and I'm so looking forward to lots of time with all five of us together, relaxing, resting, having fun, swimming, reading- just being together and making great memories. Today a thought came to me "what you look for is what you will find " and that's true in a negative sense , if say, I'm looking for "proof" that someone doesn't like or trust me. But it's also true in a really positive way - If I'm looking for God's hand (I am), and looking for things to be thankful for (I am) , and looking to see God's blessings in my daily life (I am) then I reckon I'll find them!    

It's been great to listen again to the messages from REAL. I love listening back as I find that God often speaks to me again, sometimes in different ways, or perhaps really underlining something I heard in a conference. When a conference is over, It's always a challenge to act on the word, rather than just hearing the word. This year I began straight away with a Journal of thankfulness. On the Sunday at Kerith, Kim read from her own journal. She started writing it in response to her plea to God "What are you doing in my life TODAY , Lord?" So I too have started a journal, recording and remembering the hand of God TODAY. The first day included note of a lovely encouraging letter I received from a friend, time with a family member speaking honestly and openly, the honeysuckle in the garden flowering for the first time ever, and also an iced latte and slice of Red Velvet Cake - all blessings for which I thanked God. I know this is going to be good f...

Great news, the first two REAL Talks are ready to listen to!  

 

REAL 2013 has come and gone! We had such an amazing time together, over 450 women worshipping God, hearing godly wisdom from our Speakers, enjoying time together. Wow, the beauty and creativity that we saw and experienced! Wow the treats and surprises and lovely moments! The Openers were something else! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who worked hard, and used their gifts with such joy and energy, to put REAL on. I'm so proud of you all and so grateful to God. All of theTalks were recorded and will be available in the next week on the Kerith website. TODAY you can book in for REAL 2014. We're pleased to be able to keep the prices exactly the same as this year. So if you book in before midnight tonight, you get the best and most reasonable price of £19. Why not get yourself a place booked, and buy one for a friend too - who knows what friendship will be formed in your life during this next year? Who knows who the recipient of that extra ticket may be, and may mean to you,...

So looking forward to us praising Jesus together, tonight at REAL! (Full tickets, and evening only tickets still available on the door) Praise Him To the amazing One To the unchanging One To Him the anthem raise Lift up your hymns of praise   For all the things He's done For all the things to come To Him the anthem raise Lift up a shout of   Praise Him with all of the music Praise Him in all of the nations Praise Him with all of creation We praise Him We praise Him   See now the risen One See the exalted Son To Him the anthem raise Lift up your hymns of praise   For all the things He's done For all the things to come To Him the anthem raise Lift up a shout of   Praise Him with all of your heart sing Praise Him in this generation Jesus the light of salvation We praise Him We praise Him   We praise Him We praise Him We praise Him We praise Him   Shine Your light foreve...

So we've arrived... REAL is TOMORROW! The team are all working so hard. Kerith is looking really lovely, bags and treats are prepared and ready for you all. O ur guests from LA are here and enjoying this lovely summer weather. Here are Dolce, me, Susan and her daughter Belle, and Kim, having enjoyed fish and chips (outside!) at an English country pub. Abs arrives tomorrow, travelling down on the train from Bradford. For those of you not yet booked in, or undecided, there is still time to decide to come along to REAL. We'd love to have you. We can't accept any more online bookings via eventbrite, but don't worry, you can just turn up and register and pay tomorrow. Doors to Kerith reception open tomorrow night at 6.30 for registrations; then the doors to the auditorium (both upstairs and downstairs) open at 7. Saturday morning those that need to register can do so from 8, and the auditorium doors open at 8.30. We've just received the fantastic...

I wish that you all could see what I saw, and hear what I heard at last nights rehearsal for REAL! Wow! The worship...Performance songs and dances...Drama...Music...Lights...Sound..and Stage - it's looking and sounding beautiful, and really exciting! Not long now and we'll all experience it for real :) I wonder whether there are girls in your world who aren't part of Kerith, perhaps don't share your faith? The evenings at REAL would be a great "taster" for them. I knew it already, and I have faith in the speakers and in what we'll all be bringing, but to actually see the fantastic standard of all the creative elements prompted a longing in my heart to bring more friends along to "taste and see". As I mentioned in my last blog, we've released tickets for the evening sessions. They are £5 at the special registration point at Kerith on the night. Friday night the conference kicks off, worship,loads of creative elements, a talk from me, ...

I know that some girls have to work on Saturday, so to help them and others, TODAY we are releasing special “Evening only” tickets to REAL You're so welcome, and we want to do whatever we can to help you to get there! Tickets are only £5 each and are available from Kerith reception on the evening itself . Our wonderful Kerith Events Manager, Sue Ranger, has written this useful information for any woman who would like to purchase an evening ticket for either the Friday or Saturday evening session (or both!) The evening sessions on Friday and Saturday begin at 7.30 with a fantastic creative Performance piece, so please arrive in really good time to register and get your seat! Kerith Centre doors will open at 6.30. Parking at Kerith is restricted to those with conference passes or disabled blue badges, so please plan and allow some extra time to get parked, and to take the short walk in from the town centre car park. Over 400 women will be doing exactly ...

I'm sitting in the South Hill Park cafe, having dropped the dog at the groomers for his much needed trim and tidy-up (the house is covered in dog hair, the Hoover is FULL of dog hair!) I'm not teaching today, and there's an hour to use up before I pick him up again. Well that was the plan, but this time Simon will collect him and bring him here to meet me. You see, we're trying to "Do Lunch" together today, and we've had to come up with a creative plan for how we can meet somewhere for 45 minutes! Hope the weather stays nice. If it starts to rain the plan will backfire, as we're planning on sitting outside (remember the dog?!) At REAL we've got a lunch break and (new this year) a dinner break. You might like to pop home...or have some space and time alone before the evening, but you also might like to stay out and eat near Bracknell. If so, I'd recommend booking somewhere, and perhaps popping into Wokingham for Prezzo, Pizza Express, Nandos,...

Here we go girls - its now only 10 more days until REAL! Tonight I'm busy writing cards to some beautiful women we will be honouring at the conference. We're celebrating acts of kindness as we simply say "Thank you for being a friend." We'll always find space in our events to honour women, its so important, and we know that it really inspires others too. At Kerith there's a lot happening tonight.... The decorations are being made and much fun is being had - pop along tomorrow evening if you want to join in -any level of creative ability welcome! The Band are practising all the performance songs and worship tonight. Dave sent me a message and a short video of the Friday night Opener, "It's sounding really great, you'll love it! Lots of buzzing around upstairs with people getting decorations sorted, it's going to be fantastic!" That's so exciting and makes REAL feel more...real! Tonight I'm than...

Would you like to be involved in preparations for REAL? Gabrielle is gathering a team of volunteers to join in the REAL Decoration Evenings on Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd July from 6-9.30 pm, meeting upstairs in the Kerith Lounge. We’ll be making paper flowers, bunting, paper leaves, pompoms and lots of other bits and pieces. Feel free to show up, you can pop in at any point to help out for an hour or 2 - come and go as suits your schedule. The good news is that , even If you wouldn’t consider yourself creative, there will be jobs for all creative abilities, with various production lines going on! If you have any questions, or want to contact Gabriele,feel free to Email her Gabriele. Bytautaite@kerith.co.uk Come and join the fun! (The picture's a sneak preview of one of the paper flowers!)