Dear Friends and Partners of Heartcry,

It seems like January has flashed by at lightening speed although it has been a busy month with a lot of great opportunities. But at the beginning of this year, I felt God say “start slow, achieve much”. Sometimes the pressures of life and ministry, the many open doors and the demand of expectation and personal motivation mean that we can rush into life at full speed and then find we run out of steam or lose our compass and sense of direction. God is asking each of us to start slow, to give Him the first fruits of our day, month, year. Making time for God in our schedules is ultimately a trust issue and we have felt this challenge again as we’ve started 2018: do you trust the Good Shepherd to lead you this year? At Heartcry we have developed the habit of beginning the year with a prayer and planning retreat so we took some time out in January. We found that our 48 hours away gave us clarity, strategy, time for reflection and wisdom for this new year and new season. Now the adventure of faith begins to walk out what we have heard and seen in prayer and watch God’s plan unfold as we travel and minister in the nations this year!

Helen’s ministry year always begins with two days of teaching at the South West Youth Ministries training conference. Although she was battling a ‘flu bug, she enjoyed investing in the lives of these young leaders as she taught on the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit. Her biggest joy was to see several receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the first time and begin to understand what partnership with God can look like for them – the natural partnering with the supernatural.

I (Rachel) was privileged to have time with Riverside Church, Exeter, for a weekend conference on prayer and the prophetic called “Unblocking the Wells”. I really felt God challenge us to examine what dirt the enemy had been using to stop up our wells – was it disappointment, discouragement or distractions? We had great times of prayer and prophetic worship especially Saturday night and then on Sunday God ministered His word into people’s lives. It was wonderful to watch the revelation drop and people’s countenance literally change as they grasped the truth of what God was saying.

As we write, we are getting ready to fly to Northern Ireland where we will be ministering at the Breathe conference with the theme of “Overflow”. It’s been stimulating to reflect on the difference it makes when we understand that we are made not just for outflow but for overflow! If the messages are recorded, we will post a link on our Facebook page for you to listen…!

As I have looked at this theme of OVERFLOW I was reminded of the HOLY WELLS that we have across our nations in the United Kingdom. Ireland has 3000 holy wells and Cornwall has 200! These Holy Wells have one distinctive – they are resourced by a spring and so the well has an outflow. Many of these wells have a spout where the water just overflows – this well has a pure stream of water flowing out of the well. This is such a picture of what God wants from our lives. He wants this continuous source of water flowing – we were designed to be HOLY WELLS with a constant overflow!

February will start slow…with a UK based weekend…but we will then be back on planes for the remainder of the month, travelling to Norway, Canada and the United States. It has been a noticeable shift that so many churches have begun to call for teaching and input on prayer and the prophetic again. We have sensed that many have been in a building season for several years but now there is a shift: time to look up into the heavens again; time for prophetic strategy; time for seasons of prayer and fasting. So the emphasis of much of the ministry in each of the churches and nations we will be in will be on training that listening ear and prayer fuelled spirit so that we can know the plans and strategies of Heaven in this season. Start slow, achieve much!

Thank you to those of you who take time to pray for us when we are on the road. There are times when I am sure you feel prompted to pray or send us a word of encouragement without knowing the context. We just want you to know that we treasure those timely words and your prayer support as well as every financial gift to help us do what God has called us to do.

With all our love and appreciation,
Rachel Hickson and the Heartcry for Change team.

HEARTCRY ITINERARY FOR FEBRUARY

4 KINGSGATE CHURCH PRAYER TEAM TRAINING, PETERBOROUGH, UK (Rachel)
9-11 BETEL WOMEN’S RETREAT, NOTTINGHAM, UK (Rachel & Helen)
14-17 FILADELFIA CHURCH, KRISTIANSAND, NORWAY (Rachel & Helen)
18 SALEM CHURCH, KRISTIANSAND, NORWAY (Rachel & Helen)
23-25 VIA CHURCH, LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, CANADA (Rachel & Helen)
26-28 SEATTLE, USA (Rachel & Helen)

(Click the links above for service times or further venue & event details)