Category: All Posts
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Facing fear with leaps of faith
What do trampolines, youth work and public speaking have in common? For myself, they have all at one point in my life conjured up a sense of fear. Laugh if you want to, but I am sure we all have different fears and I choose to share three of mine…
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Joy In My Everyday
Getting an infection was just what the doctor ordered. How weird does that sound? An infection that stopped me in my tracks, changed my plans and made me feel pretty ill actually worked out for good. It made me see certain parts of my life with a fresh pair of…
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Wounding Words
Sometimes there are no words for those times when you are attacked for being the very person you are. When your identity is questioned, shouted down and you are made to feel less. I know my identity. I am unashamedly loved by Love Himself. As I lay in bed feeling…
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Transformation: TAG Conference 2016
Let me tell you a story. The 25th-26th October was the third annual TAG Conference, my first experience of TAG and I hope it will not be my last. It was absolutely brilliant. Me and three young people who come to some of the youth groups at church went to Tiverton…
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Why The Carpenters Got It Wrong About ‘Rainy Days and Mondays’
Have you ever wandered aimlessly somewhere just because you could? Today I decided to do that. It was pouring down with rain and I wanted to ‘test-drive’ this umbrella that I recently purchased. I feel like a child sitting in a pushchair with one of those rain covers over it.…
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The life of a youth work trainee aka ‘Youth Ruth’
‘Youth Ruth’ was a nickname given to me from some of the youth in my church. There are other Ruth’s that make up our congregation (surprise, surprise given the biblical name!), so this was a way to set me apart from the other Ruth’s. It also rhymes with ‘youth’. Bonus.…
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The Day I Became An Ice Cream
‘I don’t think I can cope with anymore changes.’ These were the words a family friend spoke to me recently as they were going through some challenging changes in their life. Transitions can be tough. It’s the start of a new academic year, a new season as autumn greets us…
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Pardon my Poetry
Writing this I feel numb. The words I write don’t seem to come. Watching loved ones suffer some more, I am tempted to close the door. Lock it shut. Lock it tight. I don’t have the strength to stand and fight. The tears roll down, I just don’t care. I…
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Nabeel Qureshi’s cancer diagnosis – a morning reflection
Sad news seems to have a habit of reaching me in the morning. I think it’s coincidence but I can’t help but notice the pattern. I remember my mum waking me in the morning to tell me that my Grandad had died. Flicking through Facebook like reading the morning newspaper,…
Ruth Clemence 
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