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Something New and Something Old

Amy in her 2011 Christmas Gift from her big sister Lorah Eric and I at the 2011 Christmas Splendour at D7 Church Daniel, Jordan, Lorah, Eric, myself and Amy at the Christmas Splendour Lorah, myself and Jordan in London, 2002 Lorah and I in Gloucester Park, 2010 Daniel feeding the ducks, Bourton-on-the-Water, 2009

TOCP - Introduction

My name is Angela De Souza, I am the mother of four gorgeous children, Lorah-Kelly, Jordan, Daniel and Amy. My husband and I are the senior pastors of D7 Church and at the time of this writing I served in the capacity of Executive Pastor too.  I can honestly say that no recipe or formula for church building exists - God does not work in this way! D7 Church is living proof of this. Not because we didn’t try, we did try, we tried just about everything.  Oswald Chambers writes, “Never make a principle out of your experience, let God be as original with other people as He is with you.” In the same way I would say, don’t try and copy our journey or make principles out of our experiences, let God be as original with your church as He was with ours. We did not fit into a mould or a recipe, even though at first we tried to. Our bookshelf is lined with books that tell you what works and what doesn’t work. Our computer is filled with files of blog posts from mega-church pastors and docu

Being a Wife - Who Does Not Complain

It hit me like a ton of bricks! He was right after all, I did complain a lot. My heart was sore because this was the exact opposite of the kind of wife that I wanted to be. How did I get there, when did it start, why did I let my guard down and allow it to start in the first place. Well I had no idea where it had begun but I knew that it had to stop! There was no way I was going to tolerate me being a complaining wife and I most definitely was not going to be a nagging wife. So I took firm and decisive action. Strangely enough, I had read a verse about that precise thing just that morning, perhaps God tried to tell me but I couldn’t hear Him and so He had to speak through Eric, which was much more painful to hear. Philippians 2:14 Do all things without complaining and disputing, This is the verse I had read in the morning and then Eric said that I complained too much in the afternoon, after a full day of me complaining. Needless to say I was ashamed of the wife I had become.

He Restores My Soul

Pressing Pause When Life Is Stuck In Fast Forward Do you ever feel like you are stuck on a treadmill that is set too fast and you cannot find the stop button? Modern living can often feel just like that at times. Stress, heart attacks, family breakdown and so much more is the result of the way we live our life these days. God never intended it to be this way, His plan was so much better. ' He Restores My Soul ' is a look at God's way to live our life, which is after all so much higher than our ways. Press the pause button, take a deep breath, and uncover a much better way to live your life.  Live more freely, feel more alive and enjoy all that God has given us. Available on: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Fishpond | Kindle Contents: Overworking Selah Stillness Fasting Feasting Planning Seasons Creation Sleep Give Thanks Perseverance My Rest

King's Daughters Conference 2011 & 2012

Why does nine months seem like forever?  It's nine months until our next King's Daughters Conference and I am already so excited which makes nine months look like such a long wait! To keep us going, I thought I would reflect on last years conference, as we had such a great time together.  Here are the two messages I preached and I will make the other messages available soon. Have a listen to Secure on the Rock and Beauty with a Purpose . In the meantime why not book your ticket and get connected in our new King's Daughters Network with others who will also be attending this years awesome King's Daughters Conference.

Fasting

This past Sunday at D7 Church I had the privilege of preaching the first message of the year in our brand new venue .  Of course being in a new venue presented all sorts of challenges and distractions and we had time pressure to get out of the venue early as the staff were hung over from their New Year's celebrations!  I hope that even though I had to skip through the message quite quickly and even though the message was quite informal with lots of chit chat in between, that they most important bits came through - the fast that fasting is an essential part of the Christian life and without it we lose out on so much that God has planned for us.  Read more about fasting here or listen to the message .

Being a Woman - Who is Not Deceived

Whether we like it or not, women are vulnerable to deception. The Devil knew this and counted on it since the beginning of time. God made us vulnerable and He made us the weaker vessel, this was intended as a good thing. God gave us the blessing of being a weaker vessel so that we didn’t have to carry the heavy load that men were designed to carry. The Devil did what he always does, and took the good that God intended and used it for his evil purposes.  Women, if we can uncover this plan of the enemy, we can beat him at his own game. It’s time to take some of the ground that was lost in Eden. It’s time to be women who remain the weaker vessel but are not deceived.  Genesis 3:13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 1 Timothy 2:14-15 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and