[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][td_text_with_title custom_title=”Inside the June 2016 issue of Direction Magazine…”] [/td_text_with_title][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

EDITORIAL
Chris Cartwright says restore your soul

GOD’S PEACE IS LIKE A BLANKET
Colin and EJ Harwood are clinging to their faith after a life-changing event

NEWS  from Elim and the wider church

REACH YOUR COMMUNITY ONLINE
Is your church building a bridge or building a wall, asks Mark Pugh

MISSION TRIP BIRTHS AN IDEA
A trip to Honduras gave Mandy Campbell an idea that is helping to beat poverty

EMBRACING REAL RELATIONSHIPS
Matt Bird builds relationships and is helping UK churches impact their communities

YOUNG RISE UP TO SPREAD GOSPEL
Some of Elim’s finest young leaders pulled off a crazy challenge, writes Tim Alford [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

YOU MUST GUARD YOUR HEART
Approach all you do with the right heart, advises Aspire’s leader Leanne Mallett

UNLOCKING THE BIBLE’S FACTS
James Glass asks and answers some tough questions about the Scriptures

MUSIC reviews with Ian Yates

DRUMMERS CAN’T BEAT THESE TIPS
Elim Sound’s Tom Lane offers his advice about drumming during worship services

ADDING SPICE TO EVANGELISM
Things are hotting up for the MPower curry challenge, explains Mark Lyndon-Jones

NEW SEASONS MUST STRETCH YOU
Your future in God can always be greater than your history, says Carl Johnston [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

I’M THANKFUL TO THE LORD says American basketball star Kevin Durant

THE QUESTION OF SUFFERING
David Couchman introduces an important new resource for life groups

PRAISE GOD FOR PRESSURE
Lyndon Bowring welcomes calls to tackle fixed-odds betting terminals

BIBLE COLLEGE IS FOR EVERYONE
After three years at RTC, Lizzie Shipman says her life has been transformed

RECONNECT WITH THE LIVING GOD
Could we be in danger of living like unbelievers, asks Gary Gibbs

ANSWERS with Mark Ryan

AND FINALLY with John Lancaster [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][td_text_with_title custom_title=”Restoring your soul”]

The global wellness industry is reported to be a £2.5 trillion market.

Our increasingly stressed- out lives and desire for better ‘work-life-play bal ance’ has spawned a host of courses, therapies, plans and ‘experiences’.

Some promise to enable us to thrive, whilst others settle for helping us simply survive.

Yet they all, in some way, are responding to our basic human instincts.

We all need rest. Humans are hot-wired for times of rest and recuperation. Deprive us of food and we can survive for weeks. Deprive us of rest and we soon start to fall apart.

For many of us summer provides the opportunity for some well-earned break time from the routine. Some will have been counting the calories or putting in the miles for months to get into the summer wardrobe.

Yet the reality is that a brief sudden seasonal adjustment, however great the destination, is not in itself enough to provide the real sustenance we both need and crave.

Life in all its complexity and challenge requires that we are rooted and replenished physically, emotionally and spiritually.

In The Message Bible, Eugene Peterson translates Jesus’ words to the crowds in Galilee: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?

Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly,” (Matthew 11:28-30).

The Psalmist David spoke of the God who ‘restores my soul’.

It may be a long walk in a favourite spot, dinner with dear friends, a moment of heartfelt praise and worship or getting your Bible open as a verse suddenly comes to life and you hear the intimate voice of God and feel his gentle presence.

Whatever works best for you, I pray that you will know his restoring presence and that he will renew your strength and joy for the season to come.

Chris Cartwright

General Superintendent Elim Pentecostal Churches Order iBelieve magazine About Direction  Adevertisers Join mailing list