Deep Release E-Newsletter January 2012 - HAPPY NEW YEAR

Dear Friends

Do you keep a Journal?  I've kept a record of my life for around 20 years, and have a stack of diaries piling up recording the highs and lows of being me.  I review each year in December, and occasionally do a longer review, including a ten-year one once.  It was sobering how little real grasp of time I seem to have.  Some events I thought were years ago, and they were in fact only a matters of months ago.  Other things I had totally forgotten, including names of people which clearly once didn't need any explanation.  Who were Pat and Ronnie, for goodness sake???  Obviously pillars of the church we were attending at the time, but I just can't place them now. I guess our brain is designed to sort and sift information so that the most relevant stuff comes to the front, and details we no longer need get stored in some cerebral filing cabinet or other.  What a lot of living we have all done.

A new year, a new programme.  The brochure should be with you any day now, and there is a PDF version on the website, plus all the courses which you can now book.  We have reduced the cost of many of the day courses (but NO LUNCH AT SION any more, so start planning your packed lunch menus now!), the Bursary Fund is going strong, and you can pay in instalments, whatever helps.  Please don't ever let money stand in the way of your attending the courses.  We start the general programme in March, giving you a couple of months to recover from Christmas, and courses will be happening in Brentwood, Hemel Hempstead, Southampton and Bristol, so look out for your nearest venue!  We are also out and about in other towns around the UK running courses, so we'll keep you posted on those too. We hope you like the new training days we've put on, and we'll be reminding you of the programme each month in the Newsletter, plus you can follow our goings-on via Facebook, if that's your thing.  It's nice when people 'like' what we put on there, including discussions on different counselling topics which we can debate together. 

Please make sure Katy has your up to date details if anything has changed, particularly your email address.

New Year is time for taking stock, lamenting the extra pounds and failing faculties, cherishing the familiar, still hopefully seeking the fresh.  The Israelites were encouraged by God to look back at all the way they had been led, and to be thankful.  Is my faith stronger as I do that, or more challenged?  A mixture of both, I think.  But best of all, we're in this together, and we go forward together, into whatever 2012 holds.  We may have our own Olympian struggles to face, but I hope you have people around you who will encourage you, support you, and stay with you in them.  

Thank you for your prayers for us, particularly in these difficult economic times, and we pray that you will know God's blessing on your life and loved ones in the coming year.

Take care.

With our love

Chris and Pauline